Taboo Eyes
by Kalamantige
Summary: There was more in the red eyes that was worth risking one's life, or killing hundreds of people to get a hold of them. Their beauty wasn't the only reason an enigmatic but dangerous wanted criminal would go after. This time, the hunter became the hunted. FemKurapika x OC.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters in it, except my OC Merula and other OCs.

**Warning:** _(extreme)_ violence and gore _(some would be more detailed in the later chapters)._ Referring Kurapika here as female.

**Summary**: Kurapika went on a new black list hunting job after her encounter with the Spiders and her contract with the Nostrads ended. Among the black lists was a dangerous and notorious criminal who was involved in stealing a pair of scarlet eyes; Kurapika decided that she will be her next target. And in the moment of her encounter with her, she would discover that she, too, somehow possess a Kuruta blood. But more unexpected events unfolded. The hunter became the hunted. FemKurapika vs. OC, a hint of FemKurpika x male OC pairing. ^^

**Note:** This one is edited due to some grammar errors. Hehehe... ^^' Please review….Any more corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Prologue**

The obstinate moth gradually flew closer. After several hesitant attempts, it finally flung into the flame of the lamp and perished. Its cinders fell pathetically on the base of the lamp and the young person with pallid skin and ebony, short, curly hair, looked down on it apathetically, with one eye, the colour of deepest night and seems no light penetrate in it. Her left eye was covered by a leather eye patch.

Merula could almost smell the burnt insect. And she wondered what compelled the creature into such unreasonable act that cost its life.

"How foolish", she thought.

The alcohol, Merula mused , was the one to blame. If it wasn't there, the flame would not exist, and probably, the poor creature still lives. Yes, that flame, it must have been so beautiful in the eyes of that foolish creature that it lured itself to its death. And then, it dawned to Merula, that probably the creature does deserve to die. After all, it should not have forced itself to attain something absolutely impossible. That's just foolishness.

* * *

_She heard cracking sounds. Something was burning! In the centre of the town, the smoke was surging up. She stood not far away from there. She saw the back of her people; they were gathered around it, watching. She walked towards them and waded through. In front of them, she saw the fire begun to spread over the bundles of hay and dried woods surrounding a huge wooden stake. There was an unconscious child tied to it, she appeared to be seven years of age, the same age as she. The child has a long black curly hair reaching the back of her knees, she was wearing dark clothe. No, more like a dress, but too formal-looking for such occasion and for such situation she was in._

_Seconds later the child opened her eyes. Kurapika was sure that she had seen the child's left eye was originally the colour of amethyst before it glowed with scarlet colour. Both of her black right eye and left scarlet eye were struck with utter terror upon realizing her current condition. She began to scream with plea, struggling against the rope that bound her against the stake._

_"NOOO! I didn't mean it! Father, help me! I won't do it again! I'm sorry! Please help me!"_

_Confusion and horror invaded Kurapika's face, scarlet colour faintly flicker on her cerulean eyes; she was not aware of why was this happening. She then turned her head to the direction where the child was projecting her voice into. A man, one of her fellow Kuruta, in his early 30's has turned his head away from the direction of the girl. With his back turned, his hand clutched his forehead tightly. The shadow on her face concealed his eyes, tears were streaming down his cheek as he walked away from the crowd reluctantly. The child continued to scream for help and forgiveness but no one granted her plea._

_Kurapika returned her attention in front bravely. However, beyond the burning hays and woods, something caught her attention. Besides the Kuruta people, there were a number of strangers gathered in the opposite side. They wore dark tribal robe, indicating that they were from a different tribe. They have distinct characteristics common among them-black hair, black eyes, and almost milk white skin. There was a woman among them, whose expression was utterly passive. Her eyes nailed at nothing in particular as if she did not care about anything and everything around her, like an emotionless doll. Next to her chest, her both hands carefully secured a transparent glass container containing a round thing. And when Kurapika stared at it carefully, it was an eyeball which iris was the colour of gold, concentrated in an alcohol._

_"Brother!" The child screamed on top of her lungs, her arms were bleeding from her struggle against the rope. She raised her teary face as if pleading the heavens, "Brother! Help me! It hurts! It hurts!"_

_The child gave out her last ear-piercing shriek which made Kurapika barely jumped back. The fire engulfed the whole body of the girl finally. Her eyes were utterly burning red as she witnessed the horrifying event persisted in front of her._

"Kurapika!"

_Despite the call, she did not steer. She held her breath, her face filled with horror._

"Kurapika!"

_A pair of hands emerged behind her and covered her eyes to prevent her from seeing more of the dreadful scene._

"KURAPIKA!"

* * *

She opened her eyes wide. If she wasn't wearing black contact lenses, her irises could have seen burning vividly scarlet.

"Kurapika! Are you alright?" Senritsu asked anxiously as she stared at her with worried expression. Kurapika squinted and realized that she had fallen asleep on one of the airport's waiting bench. Senritsu must have been shaking her for several timesnow to wake her up. Kurapika straightened her back on her seat. She massaged her forehead and found out that she had sweat a lot from her sleep.

"You seemed to be having a nightmare," Senritsu stated, Kurapika could have denied it but she was aware of Senritsu's ability, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine now." Kurapika replied, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have fallen asleep."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Kurapika force a faint smile. "Yes. I'll be fine. I'm sorry if I made you worry."

It had been a year since her encounter with the Spiders, and a week had passed since her contract with the Nostrads ended. Kurapika had decided then that she needed to move on another hunting job. She practically got what she aimed for back in Yorkshin. She succeeded on retrieving a pair of Kuruta eyes, but those were just a pair. The rest of those scarlet eyes must have been scattered in different countries or continents. This means she had not reached half way of accomplishing her goal.

"Well then, it hhad been pleasure meeting you and working with you, Senritsu," Kurapika declared almost regrettably as Senritsu stood in front of her; she was ready to board her plane.

"Don't say it like we won't see each other again," Senritsu replied with a smile, almost reassuringly. Kurapika smiled but with a slight frown, but then her smile became genuine.

"Yes. We shall see each other again," Kurapika agreed.

"Please, see to it that you'll be more cautious with your emotions and your actions, Kurapika," Senritsu added considerately, "Remember that sometimes anger could blind us, that we hardly notice that we're putting ourselves and those who care for us in danger."

Kurapika gave a reassuring smile and nodded approvingly, "Yes. I'll remember that. I'll be more careful from now on."

A satisfied grin drew on Senritsu's face and for several minutes, Kurapika saw her plane took off.

Kurapika decided not to waste any more time. Half an hour later, she rented a computer and gained access to the Hunter's website, and searched for clues and current whereabouts of the stolen scarlet eyes of her people. It dawned on her, however, that she would have to actually do the other black list hunting job, other than continuing pusruing the Phantom Troupe, to fund the prospective journey she will take throughout her mission.

Pictures of wanted criminals popped on her computer screen and among them, one person sure stood out from the rest. She was young, about Kurapika's age, short black wavy hair. Her left eye was covered by a leather eye patch, while her free eye was of a round black orb. Her countenance, though almost angelic and innocent-looking, it was hard to believe that her record said that she was "wanted" for wiping out her own tribe. Kurapika frowned on this. Moreover, she had killed almost a thousand hunters who attempted to capture her and this concluded that she was practically a tough target. _Never judge a book by its cover_ Kurapika thought.

Kurapika's eyes finally reached the part of the record saying that the said criminal was involved in sabotaging several quarters of a certain powerful underground organization involving illegal experiments for several times, and one of those times, she stole a pair of scarlet eyes from them. This wanted criminal, known as Black Riding Hood was last seen, a week ago in Aklan, a province near Boracay Island where the said underground organization held another base.

Within more or less than an hour, Kurapika boarded a plane heading to Aklan.

* * *

She knew there were five of them who were following her, but not a slight trace of worry manifested on her face. Or rather, at least, she probably never manifested any emotions at all. She kept up with her usual speed, sprinting through the woods. Finally, the five hunters caught up with her. Even if they were already dashing along with her side by side, and practically surrounding her, she acted as if they weren't there, ignoring them. Six shadows were seen flashing through the jungle then.

"So it's true! The rising star in the top 10 of black listed criminals is a cute little angel in black! And you're a foxy one in up-close." One of the hunters teased, while keeping his pace to catch up with their target. He expected a reaction but nothing came up, she did not even turn her head or move her eye. Merula just kept on sprinting, ignoring their presence.

"Hey there, Black Riding Hood, how about playing with us before we bring your head to our boss?" The hunter incited, but he was constantly ignored, and this finally made him snap. He jerked his head as a signal to his gang.

Five hunters dashed 30 feet ahead of their target and stopped in a certain spot. Obviously, she had no intention of changing her course nor coming into a halt. Still consistent with her speed, she headed towards where the five hunters were waiting without hesitation. The leader of the group stood on the ground, anticipating to confront the arriving target.

The plan was, when she finally came face to face with the leader, he and the rest of the hunters who were hiding in different position, most of them were hiding in the tree branches above and in the bushes on the ground, would attack the target in unison. The hunters set their Nens and weapons ready.

Finally, in more than five seconds, she arrived like lightning and was practically just two feet away facing the leader hunter. His minions were above her and surrounding her, ready to strike their weapons against her, when suddenly, she disappeared in a flash and reappeared more than 20 feet away from them. There was a faint shimmer of thread, as thin as hairline, that surrounded her in split seconds, then it was gone as soon as it seemed that one of her hands made a swift, jerking movement under the tail of her black short cloak. Immediately, she resumed to her pace afterwards, and continued to sprint with her usual speed, leaving her baffled pursuers behind.

Before the five hunters could turn their heads and utter a word, blood gushed from their bodies, and splashed on the trees and bushes surrounding them. Their bodies dropped in several pieces to the ground like fresh-cut carcasses; their innards scattered nearby.

Riding Hood continued on her way otherwise, and still she carried the ever stoic countenance like no bloody encounter ever occurred few seconds ago. She was heading straight to Boracay.

...to be continued


	2. Chapter 01: Advent

04

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OC Merula, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** _(extreme)_ violence and gore _(some would be more detailed in the later chapters)._ Referring Kurapika here as female.

**Note:** Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 01: Advent**

Aklan, as what Kurapika learned from her brief research, was a province in a tropical country. So, it was only sensible for the blonde hunter to change her clothes that would be convenient in such a place. He put on a pair of trousers, sneakers, and a cotton white shirt with upright collar and elbow-length sleeves under a black vest that concealed the slight bulk on her chest.

Come to think of it, Kurapika had succeeded in hiding her true gender to everyone, or probably 'almost' to everyone including her friends since the massacre of her tribe and up until now. For her, it would not be convenient and practical to go on a journey, straight up as a female, and become a hunter to seek revenge against a notorious group of criminals who murdered her people. She made a resolve that such goal _(or most probably, she rather took it as such obligation as the sole survivor of Kuruta)_ must be done by her, alone.

The plane she boarded had taken off from York Shin more than two hours ago and had crossed the Pacific Ocean. She insouciantly leaned her head on the back of her seat. Soon, her musing was interrupted when something warm landed on her face. She turned her head to the side and saw sepia of the setting sun through the window. The sun had dispersed a reddish orange tinge among the clouds. It was a beautiful sight. It was like the sky was burning. Then, the burning colour reminded Kurapika of the red eyes of her people. She clutch her chest for she felt the pang in her heart again.

* * *

After almost three more hours of flight, the plane finally landed in Aklan International Airport. The moment Kurapika stepped off the plane, though it was almost 7:00 pm, the wind was warm. _Tropical country huh?_ she thought.

Kurapika, unlike any regular passenger, brought only her shoulder bag. At least a brand new one but almost the same like the old one she used back in the hunter exam. Her hunter's licence card sure was quite handy that she was able to board a plane within an hour and rode in it for free.

She then rode a cab that brought her to one of the Aklan's grandest hotel.

The said hotel, judging it by appearance, was not as grand as those back in York Shin. Kurapika could tell it even though it's already dark as she stared at its façade the moment she stepped off the cab. _Hotels are like this in this country's province_ she presumed.

The lobby was a bit busy with regular people, and with both local and foreign tourists. Some of them, like Kurapika, just arrived to book a room, while others were busy making phone calls to their friends or family they were expecting to arrive and join them in the same hotel.

"I need a room for a single person," Kurapika told the receptionist, "First class", she added as she showed her hunter's licence. The receptionist hesitated for a moment, and then she examined the hunter's card at Kurapika hand. When she was satisfied and certain that the card was real, she smiled and accepted the card.

"Of course," the receptionist grinned, "In a minute please…"

On one of the couches in the lobby was a man sitting and and hiding his face with a magazine. He must be in her early thirties. He had a short brown hair, and a sturdy body. He was wearing a casual white shirt and brown trouser. That man could not help but peeked over the magazine and stared at the blonde hunter the moment Kurapika showed her hunter's card. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Finally, the bellboy appeared and asked Kurapika politely to follow her so he could escort her to her room. When she was almost 10 meters away from the reception booth, the man with the magazine stood up, dropped the magazine on the couch, approached the receptionist and asked some questions. That time, Kurapika and the bellboy had already entered the elevator unaware of the man's scheme against the blonde hunter. The said man then headed to one of the elevators as well and headed to the floor where the Kuruta's room was.

Kurapika's assigned room was located in the 21st floor, 4th floor below the rooftop of the hotel. Kurapika's grave seriousness gave the bellboy the uncomfortable and foreboding feeling. Something bad was going to happen. He could feel the animosity from her, as if she was expecting an ambush.

"My room isn't that hard to find, is it?" Kurapika finally broke off the silence. The bellboy flinched.

"N…No. Not really," the bellboy stammered.

"Give me the keys," she demanded and bellboy obeyed immediately with almost trembling hands.

The elevator door opened at the 21st floor. Kurapika stepped off the elevator but she ordered the bellboy to leave her. The elevator's door closed behind her, and the Kuruta found her self alone in the hallway. Or maybe, she was not really alone in there and soon, her suspicion was proven right.

Kurapika raised her right hand and the dowsing chain materialized on her ring finger.

_"There were ten of them,"_ she told herself thoughtfully after sensing the aura of other people not far from her.

"Let's settle this!" she exclaimed. Then, men in black combat ensembles emerged from both ends of the hallway, lurching toward the blonde hunter in unison.

Shuriken flew towards her but she managed to dodge them. In seconds, she was circling in mid air and her dowsing chain spiralled around her and rammed against three of her attackers, throwing them several feet away. Two enemies appeared behind her and were about to swung down swords onto her, but she made a roundhouse kick and hit them both in the stomach with almost an audible cracking sound. Then, their bodies hit the ground. She had probably broken their ribs.

She landed on the floor crouching. Alert enough, she managed to block the flying daggers heading towards her by her chain. She swung her hand again and her chain whipped against the three who were about to fire their guns at her, sending them to the ground like the previous two. The guns flew off their hands. However, the remaining two enemies who stood from both sides of the hall were already aiming their machine guns at the blonde hunter. Kurapika went on a run to avoid the darting bullets. She then aimed the metal ball of her dowsing chain to the face of one of her remaining attackers and succeeded knocking him out; his mouth bled and lost some teeth.

"One more to go." Kurapika declared in a whisper.

The last one constantly fired his armalite at Kurapika but she dodged low and managed to avoid most of the bullets, though one bullet managed to rip her sleeve and created a small hole on it. It didn't take long before she was able to knock the gun off the enemy's hand by her chain. She then lurched towards him to deliver the final blow when a switch blade suddenly appeared on his hand. He dashed forward to meet her attack.

The enemy swung his switch blade at the Kuruta endlessly but never landed onto the blonde hunter's skin. Kurapika spun behind him and delivered a strong kick to his back, sending her attacker sweeping his face against the floor.

The enemy tried to stand up with the blade still in his grasp, but Kurapika's foot crashed his hand, nailing his hand against the floor. The Kuruta picked up the blade and pointed it under the enemy's chin. Suddenly, he began to stutter for mercy in language she could not comprehend.

"Suko na ako! Suko na ako! Wag nyo akong patayin_!" (I give up! I give up! Please spare me!) _the enemy pleaded.

"Who-_"_ Kurapika was about to question him who was behind all this attack when she was interrupted by a sound of hands clapping.

…to be continued….

* * *

_Sorry. I didn't mean this chapter to be this short. It's just that I barely have enough time writing this. ^^' Anyway, this chapter is edited for grammar errors. :P_


	3. Chapter 02: The Offer

05

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OC Merula, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female.

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 02:**

**The Offer**

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Magnificent performance!" said the voice of a man who appeared along one end of the hallway. He had a short brown hair, was wearing a casual white shirt and brown trousers, "You got some pretty classy moves there. Not to mention, an impressive kind of Hatsu." He added grinning while he insouciantly walks towards Kurapika.

The switchblade flew and impaled into the floor just inches away from the man's foot, making the man jump. He looked up and saw the blonde hunter glaring at him _(if she was not wearing black contact lenses, the man could have been intimidated by the blonde hunter's glowing scarlet eyes) She was ready to swing her chain again_.

"Woah! Hey! I ain't here to fight you! I'm not even a hunter!" the man said defensively, raising both of his hands in the air.

"You're behind all these, aren't you?" Kurapika demanded.

"Partly. Yes."

Kurapika's hand moved gradually but threateningly.

"Hey! Heeeeeyyy!" the man protested without putting his hands down. He slowed down his pace towards the blonde hunter cautiously. With cold sweat he added "It's a _test_! A test okay! And…." The man hawked nervously, "Fortunately, you passed," he grinned cheerfully, "Congratulations!"

But Kurapika was not pleased.

"Is that how this hotel welcome their guests?" She commented coldly.

Kurapika lowered her guard. The man heaved a relieved sigh and dropped his hands to his sides knowing he could relax now. The Kuruta noted that the guy was actually wearing a silver earring with a small, round black stone in his left ear. Kurapika's chain vanished on her hand.

"I take it, you're a hunter. A black list hunter to be exact, and you're not here for a vacation" the man replied, "You're actually here for some black-list hunting business, aren't you?"

"So?"

"Well," the brown-haired man replied "That confirms it! Besides, the numbers of hunters, especially black-list hunters, increased their number here recently." He moved around to Kurapika's side, rubbing his chin, while the blonde hunter kept a wary eyes on him, "Say….You wouldn't happen to be after Black Riding Hood, too, aren't you?"

"Your point?"

"My point?" he raised an eyebrow, "Ah, but before that, call me Art," the guy reached out a hand for a handshake. He smiled like Cheshire cat. "Nice to meet you….uh…"

"Kurapika." The blonde hunter replied but she did reach for the handshake. She still glared at Art with untrusting eyes.

"Kurapika…" Art repeated putting down his hand and buried it into his pocket, and shrugged, "Uh….is that a boy's name or a girl's name."

"Are you mocking me!" Kurapika retorted with a threatening stance.

"Hey! Come on! Don't blow a fuse!" Art raise both hands defensively, "I'm just…. curious."

"I have no time for this nonsense!" Kurapika stated irrately. She turned her back, and walked away from Art. She strode over a couple of unconscious men who were lying on the way.

"Wait!" Art ran to catch up with her, but slowed down and started walkin behind the blonde hunter while she scanned the series of doors with numbers on it, looking for her room.

"Look. I'm a hunters' agent. I'm recruiting hunters whom can be paid by my boss to capture Black Riding Hood and protect his facility in Boracay against her," Art declared.

_Then, his boss must be the leader of that underground organization whose several facilities were __recently __sabotage by the said blacklist criminal_, Kurapika stated thoughtfully as she turned the key to unlock the door to her room.

"My boss can pay double the prize on Black Riding Hood's head, plus several benefits. If…." Art raised one finger, "…You'll work for him." He offered persuasively. The agent leaned his shoulder on the door frame as Kurapika stepped inside the room. She allowed the door to be just inches open and listen to Art's statement.

"Benefits such as?" Kurapika raised an eyebrow.

"Well, for starters, my boss owns this hotel and once you signed up, you can stay here for free and for free services...but most probably during day off. Also, we can provide information regarding the 'target's' location to make the job easier. And…free ride to Boracay, to where, we believe, Black Riding Hood is heading now." Art enumerated, scratching his temple with one finger, "And etcetera…."

"I'll think about it." Kurapika was about to close the door when Art's suddenly inserted his hand to prevent the door for closing completely. He yelped as he felt the door hit the flesh of his fingers.

"Wait! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Take your hand off, stupid!"

"I said wait!"

Kurapika pulled the door open wide and heaved an exasperated sigh. She saw Art wriggled his hand in pain, while mumbling some incoherent words. He pulled a small piece of paper from the chest pocket of his shirt, and a pen from his trousers' pocket. He wrote something on that paper and reached it out to the blonde hunter. Kurapika took the paper and saw Art's cellphone number written on it.

"You can search for me in Kamalig Restaurant at the ground floor tomorrow," Art winked an eye at the blonde hunter beamed at her with a smart-ass grin.

Kurapika slammed the door shut, Art's nose almost crushed into it.

"Jeez, what a hot-headed kid," Art mumbled irately, his face still centimeters away from the door, his hands into his pockets. Art heard some groans behind him. He turned and looked. The men who suffered from Kurapika's attack earlier were beginning to come to. He looked at them with pity and shook his head in disappointment with "Tsk...tsk...tsk. Well then, rise n' shine you maggots!"

The agent pulled a stick of cigarette from his chest pocket, put it in his mouth and lit it. He began to amble away from Kurapika's door and onto the hallway, striding over the injured men.

A couple, who just appeared along the hallway gasped in shocked and wondered why there were wounded men lying around on the floor.

..to be continued.


	4. Chapter 03: Guts

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OC Merula, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Contains violence and gore in the latter part of this chapter

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 03:**

**Guts**

It was already past 1:00 of the afternoon when Kurapika found Art sitting alone and enjoying a cold dessert in one of the tables in Kamalig Restaurant. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, white trousers, and shades. It seemed the restaurant doesn't have too many costumer during such hour.

Kurapika, on the other hand, had shopped for new clothes for herself on that day. She chose to wear a white Mandarin short-sleeve shirt matched with black trousers and a pair of slip-on shoes; practically close to the fashion theme of her original tribal robes. Art immediately spotted her as she walked down the steps of the said restaurant. He waved at her with great enthusiasm as if meeting a friend he hadn't seen for a long time. Kurapika did not wave back. She realized she did not like that care-free expression on the agent's face.

"I thought you wouldn't come." Art said, amused, then continued to scoop down his dessert and let Kurapika stood by the table side "But," he added with a full mouth, "The fact that you're here means that you accepted the job." His eyes smiled at the frowning Kuruta.

"And I expect that you will fulfill such promises you've mentioned before?" Kurapika confirmed.

"Let's talk it over more elaborately," Art said as he finished his dessert and pushed the glass to the side of the table. "How about taking a seat first?" Kurapika pulled a seat and sat in front of the agent, "Want to order something? My treat."

"How about going straight to the point?" Kurapika suggested.

"You're quite the impatient one eh?" Art said as he tilted her head. "Fine. Well, then, I believe I already stated all the advantages in working under my boss, and that was all there is to it. Do you have any more conditions you want to add on your behalf?"

"I want to know more about the target's background," Kurapika replied flatly. "Besides everything that was published about her in the computer web."

Art raised an eyebrow and hovered his chin over her steepled hand. He watched Kurapika continued to speak.

"And also, I want to know your boss' background and his underground activities." Kurapika added in serious tone (since of course, there wasn't much information about the said boss she could gather from other resources either.

There was a moment of silence between her and Art, but that silence filled by the song playing in the restaurant.

"Hmm…About my boss's background, you'll know when you meet him and see his base in Boracay" Art finally said, "As for Black Riding Hood..." he began to rub his chin and tilt his head a little to the other side as if trying to remember something. "I don't know Jack Squat much about her except that she used to belong in a tribe who call themselves Hematites. Their tribe name was based on a black stone, probably because their seem to have a fetish with everything black." The blonde hunter frowned. " They were last seen living together in Rukuso region more than eight years ago. But as the record said, Black Riding Hood killed all of them. It said she burned their bodies into ashes and left no single trace of her tribemates except herself."

Kurapika endeavoured to digest this. She was sure that she and her tribemates used to live in Rukuso region as well but she could not remember a thing about Hematites. If they also lived there, she could have sworn she would have had met them, but she never had nor her tribe mates. At least, none of them ever mentioned anything.

"B…But why?" Kurapika mumbled to herself. Art heard her nonetheless.

"How should I know?" Art shrugged. "What do you expect from a psychopath anyway? Why don't you ask her yourself….. once you meet her? Although, the last batch of hunters we sent after her were found literally in dead pieces of meat."

Art peered over his sunglasses to see Kurapika's reaction after he spat out the last sentence, expecting that he would see a slight fear on the Kuruta's expression but failed. But Kurapika managed to keep a calm countenance.

"You are free to back out now before we head to Boracay this afternoon if you're scared." Art announced sarcastically.

"No. I'm not backing out. I'm no coward." Kurapika clarified firmly.

"It's settled then," Art said cheerfully, he then put a folded piece of white paper on the table in front of the blonde hunter, "Here's the map. Pack your things up. Go there at exactly 3:30pm today. Don't be late."

The agent stood up from his seat, "Oh, and by the way," he leaned forward and cupped a hand in Kurapika's ear and whispered something. Kurapika made a sour face.

"Is that necessary?" Kurapika inquired, looking puzzled. But Art probably didn't hear her and had already ambled meters away from her. The agent smiled like a Cheshire cat and made a peace sign.

* * *

3:20 pm…

Kurapika had followed what was indicated in the map and soon she found herself standing in front of a steel door located probably at the topmost floor of the hotel. She knocked and the door viewer slid open. A pair of eyes looked out at her.

Kurapika took a deep breath and let the passwords out. "I like strawberry milk shake with soy sauce and pepper on top!" Then she put a peace sign over her right eye.

There was a moment of silence. Kurapika started to feel uncomfortable as she froze in such gesture. She really felt embarrassed enough in doing such silly act. But she thought it was necessary for identifying recruits as what Art said earlier back in the restaurant.

"Are you one of Art's recruits?" The man behind the door inquired; his eyes looked disinterested.

Kurapika dropped her hand and straightened herself. "Yes."

"Your hunter's card?"

Kurapika took out her Hunter's Licence and presented it in front of the door viewer.

The door opened like a flower, and Kurapika walked in.

"You really fell for that bozo's trick, didn't you?" The doorman said with a smirk. "Showing your hunter's licence and the fact that you got here are already enough proof you're one of the recruits. You had been had by that jerk with that silly password. Ahahahaha!"

"That jerk!" Kurapika muttered under her breath angrily as she stepped into the room, trying her best to hide the embarrassment but failed. The doorman shrug with a smile.

When Kurapika walk to the next room, she found it occupied by other hunters who sat on the floor, while some leaned their back against the wall while waiting patiently for what has to come in this meeting. There must be nearly a hundred of them there, including her. As she made her entrance to the room, she felt piercing eyes and cold glares followed her. Other few ignored her presence though. Kurapika sat quietly by the corner and traveled her eyes taround the room.

Other recruits are hunters of various body sizes and Nen abilities. Most of them were men, apparently there were two women. Some sat quietly, others were playing with their weapons, and the rest were meditating, exercising their Ren, which seem to be the quiet way of bragging their Nen ability to others. This wasn't new to Kurapika of course.

Finally, the digital clock on the wall ticked exactly 3:30 and the huge steel roll-up door on one side of the room opened up, letting in a strong gust of wind from outside. The rattling sound of an aircraft broke the silence of the room. All hunters stood up and stared outside.

Outside, Art who stood in a broad daylight, and was wearing a long coat over a formal suit. In his background was a vast roof top of the hotel with a couple of Tilt Rotor aircrafts, enough to transport the hunters to their destination.

"Thanks for waiting boys…"Art greeted, then he saw Kurapika and the two other female hunters, "..and gals."

The agent ambled backwards and made some elaborations about the two aircrafts behind him.

"These two beauties here will transport all of you...er…us, to 'you know where'. So without any further ado, welcome on board."

The hunters walked towards quietly to the aircrafts past the agent ignoring his additional advice, "Each aircraft can carry 60 to 70 people. So, group your selves into-"

Art was interrupted when he saw Kurapika by his side glaring at him.

"Strawberry milkshake with soy sauce and pepper on top eh?" She inquired sarcastically.

"I thought you were too smart to fall for-oof!" Kurapika's foot crashed into his before he can finish his sentence, "...that".

The agent hopped like a kangaroo in one foot as he grambles _'ows' painfully_. Then he craned over at the blonde hunter walking away from him.. "Remind me not to piss off a blonde again," he sighed in defeat.

Kurapika climbed into the aircraft satisfied with her revenge. On the way though, she pondered what a strawberry milk shake with soy sauce and pepper on top would taste like.

* * *

Boracay was no doubt a paradise island, which claimed the recognition as the number one tropical white beach in the world. It had more than 350 beach resorts, and a number of accommodations ranging from luxurious hotel types to budget, and spartan rooms. The island provided leisure activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, kiteboarding, cliff diving, and beach relaxation. Tourist from all over the globe visited the island to experience everything what this island had to offer.

The aircrafts landed on the roof top of an isolated building in the middle of the island, they beauty of the region down below was such a great sight. But the hunters were not there for a sight-seeing.

In a minute, all the hunters proceeded inside the building. They found the interior all painted in white. It was like the inside of a hospital.

Then, they entered inside a grand ballroom facing an elegant staircase. Art's boss was standing in the topmost landing of the staircase with six of his bodyguard beside him. They watched the newly recruit hunters gathered before them. The boss appeared to be a man in his 40s, with short gray hair, and an average body size. He was wearing a black ensemble.

"Congratulations gentlemen," Art's boss greeted, then he noticed the two female hunters among the crowd, "…and ladies." He coughed abruptly, and then he straightened himself, "I am Mr. Mercado. I am the one who hired you." He flicked his fingers together, and a monitor screen descended above him, "Before you proceed with your job, let's take some review, shall we?"

A close-up picture of a girl with short wavy black hair, and whose left eye was covered by an eye patch, appeared in the left side of screen. And on the right side appeared several short video clips of Black Riding Hood captured by secret CCTV cameras from different places.

"I bet you are already familiar with her," Mr. Mercado narrated, "The notorious Black Riding Hood-looks like an innocent angel, doesn't she? But of course, I take it that you already know that she isn't something to be taken flippantly. After all, my agent had probably already explained to you that the last batch of hunters I sent after her, who were almost as many as you are here now, was completely wiped out by her." He gave out a faint smirk, "And the fact that you are here means that you have enough guts to take the risk of this job."

The hunters were quiet. Some of them were probably intimidated, but refused to back down still. Others were assuming that maybe they can take her down and she was probably not that strong at all.

Mr. Mercado flicked his fingers again, the screen went black, ascended and disappeared.

"Your job is to capture her dead or alive and prevent her from breaching into the facility of Room 305." Mr. Mercado explained further, "And I'm willing to pay triple the price to anyone of you who would capture her alive...or dead and would probably best if you will be able to prevent her destroying the very facility itself. Any questions?"

The hunters started murmuring.

"Fortunately," Mr. Mercado continued, "You don't have to go out to hunt her down. She will be coming here. She could be a day away from here or two now. Or most probably, she's already here."

* * *

Fifty thousand pesos dropped on the sand next to bare feet. The fisherman picked the pile of money as he sat on a big rock on the shore.

"Teka! (Wait)" The fisherman called at the young woman in black leaping on his motor boat, "Wala akong perang panukli dito! Oy! (I don't have the change for this! Hey!)" The fisherman was scratching her head in defeat as he stared forlornly at his motorboat in the ocean as it Merula took it away.

* * *

Mr. Mercado flicked his fingers again. Men in uniform appeared before the hunters.

"My men will lead you to your position," Mr. Mercado declared, "You may now proceed."

The hunters dispersed, following Mr. Mercado's men out of the grand ballroom, but Kurapika did not stir from her position.

"Mr. Mercado," Kurapika called abruptly just when the boss was about to retire, "I have a few questions."

Mr. Mercado raised an eyebrow. He straightened up and faced Kurapika squarely.

"Ehem!" Art interrupted. "Excuse me, boss." Art walked forward to Kurapika's side. The blonde hunter didn't like Art's hand landing on her shoulder. "I want you to meet, Kurapika. He was once a bodyguard for the Nostrads during the York Shin Auction."

It dawned to Kurapika that Art made a background check on her.

Mr. Mercado grinned, looking impressed. "Really? This kid? So, you had encountered the famous Genei Ryodan eh?"

Upon mentioning the Kuruta's mortal enemy, if Kurapika was not wearing black contact lenses, Mr. Mercado might be intimidated by a pair of scarlet eyes.

"He is not like any other hunters, boss. Kurapika here is a Nen specialist, one of those who have the special abilities," Art added confidently as he pulled a cigarette from his coat's chest pocket and put it in his mouth, "And I suggest that we give him a little tour to the white rooms."

Art's boss grin grew wider.

"I agree," Mr. Mercado replied, "Follow me then."

Few minutes later, Kurapika, Art, and Mr. Mercado together with six of his bodyguards entered a vaulted door. Inside was a vast research facility. People in white coat were walking everywhere, busy with their own assigned tasks. A couple of researchers passed by, pushing a cart with several tools and specimens preserved inside several containers of alcohol. Kurapika almost flinched as she saw in a single scarlet eye in one of the containers of the said passing cart. She wish she could just grab it but she didn't. She endeavored to conceal her emotions and continued to walk through the facility.

"Are you familiar with the Scarlet Eyes, Mr. Kurapika?" Mr. Mercado suddenly pulled off without even glancing behind to look at the blonde hunter while walking ahead of agent and the Kuruta with hands behind his back confidently.

The blonde hunter could have had blurted how damn well she was familiar with the scarlet eyes, but instead she said, "You mean the red eyes from a certain tribe who were massacred by the Genei Ryodan? I saw a pair of them in the auction back in York Shin."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Mercado sighed with regret, then another vaulted door opened in front of them which led to another research room, "We were supposed to buy them from the Nostrads you know, but those pair turned out to be a fake."

Kurapika barely conceal the alarm in her face. '_How did they know that those red eyes were fakes if one of the Spiders has the keen ability to produce a "perfect copy" of everything' and she believes only high-class hunters hunters could recognize which are fake from the real ones_ the Kuruta asked herself thoughtfully. Unless of course Mr. Mercado hired some hunters to do the job for it.

"Those people didn't know how valuable those scarlet eyes are," Mr. Mercado continued, "They didn't know that there are more to them than their beauty. Fortunately, we do know."

Kurapika could have railed to him that the lives of her people were not some petty sacrifice just to satisfy other people's mad and selfish fascination for beauty, or to deprive them of their body parts to serve as guinea pigs for illegal experiments. But instead, she kept her mouth shut, and endeavoured to hold down her rage, while bearing the man's additional comments.

Finally, they stopped in front of a control room window, surrounding them were people in white coats doing their task and ignoring their presence. Few were attentively watching what was to come up inside the control room. Inside the control room was an execution bed surrounded by electromechanical robot arms with various tools in their holds. Some were recognizable as injections, needles, scalpels, and other tools used in body operation and dissection. The blonde hunter paid less attention to them nonetheless.

"You are lucky to witness something interesting today, Mr. Kurapika," Mr. Mercado stated to the blonde hunter. A puzzled look slightly invaded Kurapika's expression, then it dawned on her that she was probably going to witness something dreadful soon.

"How long before the procedure starts?" Mr. Mercado asked one of the staff in lab coat.

"In a few seconds, Sir," the researcher replied.

Suddenly, the vaulted door inside the control room opened. A hefty man in prison jumpsuit walked in with his hands in cuffs. Two men in military uniform with helmets ushered him with heavy firearms to proceed inside. Another two men in white protective suit went inside and took off the handcuffs from the hefty man. They usher him to lie down on the execution bed. The hefty man obeyed with knowing he had no choice anyway.

"That man over there was a criminal sentenced to death." Mr. Mercado explained to Kurapika, "He was supposed to be dead by an electric chair a year ago, but I bought his life from the government for this purpose."

The hefty man was left heavily strapped in the execution bed, with different wired objects attached to her body. The rest who were with him had left the room. He stared at the windows above surrounding him. He couldn't see anyone's face through it as the window appeared to be made of polarized fiber glass. But he knew he was being watched.

"Heart rate-normal. Blood pressure-normal," a person in a lab coat announced as she stared at the computer screen indicating such measurements.

A couple of robot arms started to move, holding injections containing a red liquid. The needles pointed right in front of the hefty man's eyes. He began to struggle in the execution bed as he realized what was about to happen to him but the straps were too strong for him. Even his head was heavily restrained. He began to whimper while terror filled his expression.

Art put the sunglasses on before the morbid scene happen. The man on the execution bed was screaming in agony but the awful sound was muffled by the glass window. Kurapika couldn't help but froze in her position and clenched her teeth. Mr. Mercado however, leaned forward to look more carefully.

"Blood pressure and heart rate are dropping," a person in lab coat declared.

Later, the hefty man stopped moving. There was silence.

"Sir, the subject is dead," a researcher announced flatly as she stared at the computer monitor with graph showing a flat line of heart rate.

They waited silently a little longer until a researcher stood from his seat and leaned forward to look at the immobile man inside the control room. Nothing was happening. Even the screen which was supposedly showing his brain impulses showed no sign of life.

After half a minute of patience, Mr. Mercado gave out a disappointed sigh and made an akimbo.

"Clean it up!" He ordered finally, he waved his hand dismissively.

The vault door in the control room opened and two people in white protective suit walked in and start unfastening the straps from the dead body on the execution bed. Meanwhile the researcher who had stood up to watch it through the window was oblivious to the faint movement in the graphic line in her screen that was gradually beginning to draw some small slopes. The researcher assigned on monitoring the brain impulses, immediately took notice of the activity in his computer screen though. Abruptly, he warned his fellow researcher about this. The other researcher turned to her computer screen and terror filled her face.

Mr. Mercado and the rest of the guest noticed what was happening.

The researcher turned on the microphone to the control room and told the people in there to leave immediately but it was too late.

One of the hefty man's arms suddenly intertwined like a snake on one of the people in white protective suit inside the control room, crashing his bones and muscles. Blood exploded all over the room.

"Lock them in!" Mr. Mercado ordered the researchers. One of them tried to protest but failed. Thus, before the other person in protective suit was able to escape the room, the vault door closed and locked him up. He banged to the door desperately screaming and pleading for help and freedom but in vain.

The hefty man's arm that had intertwined on a crumpled white suit with warm blood and grind flesh dripping from it was stretched into an awkward manner from its joint. Then the rest of the body parts started to change and move.

Mr. Mercado's grinned. His face gradually filled with excitement and anticipation, while Kurapika and the bodyguards almost tremble at the horrible sight inside the control room. All of them were oblivious to Art's sudden disappearance though.

The hefty man had changed into a hideous deformed monster. His upper limbs were stretched and twisted quite awkwardly, while the lower ones were folded like the hind legs of a frog with knees pointing away from the stomach instead. Veins had swollen severely all over the body, and the skin was reduced into almost transparent layer, that practically showed everything underneath it. The creature had killed and devoured the other person in white protective suit like a wild predator tearing up its prey. Finally, it left the carcass lying next to the vault door. As it moved, it turned out that the creature was moving in fours and it revealed its head with a gaping bloody mouth and jaws that seemed to have forcefully grown outwards. The eyes were blind and bloody.

The people outside the control room were all frozen and staring at the creature inside the control room with terrified eyes. They saw it turned, walked to and fro and tilted its blind head as if sniffing around. Its feet crashed the bloody flesh and the remaining innards of its victims lying on the tiled floor.

"Well then," Mr. Mercado declared, "This procedure had reached 30% success level, just like the rest."

A researcher who had sweated a lot took a deep breath, trying to pull himself together. He dug his hand into his pocket for a handkerchief to wipe away the sweats on her face, but as he pulled back his hand, a pen dropped to the floor. The faint vibration it created had reached the sensitive ears of the creature inside the control room and attracted its attention, pointing its blind head to its direction. It stared blindly at the polarized glass window and bellowed angrily.

One of the researchers looked down at the control room and noticed the creature's behaviour. Before she was able to warn the others, the creature leaped onto the window slamming itself into its fiber polarized glass, shocking the crap out of everyone including Mr. Mercado who fell backwards on the floor. The researchers started to panick. The bodyguards had aimed their guns at the creature, while Kurapika had raised her right hand with chains already materialized on it ready to use it for offence and defence. The creature constantly banged its head and pounded against the window angrily. Its breath moistened the fiber glass as it roared. The fiber glass was going to break soon.

…to be continued…

* * *

**Author Notes:** I didn't expect this chapter to be this long! Sorry if there were so many grammar and typo errors. I was really in a hurry writing this, thus I wasn't able to reread this for grammar check and to revise some parts into more creative writing style, not to mention that I was a bit distracted by lots of things to worry about while typing this chapter. I thought I could finish writing two chapters in a day, but failed. T.T I was in a hurry writing this because I'm planning to put this fanfiction into a long hiatus because I'll be working on two comic book projects at the same time! I think I'm going bonkers! _ Unfortunately, this chapter haven't reached the exciting part yet which I've been looking forward to write down and post-the Kurapika vs. Black Riding Hood/Merula part which will be shown in the next chapter which will be having lots of actions. So I hope that I could still spare time to write the next chapter this week and then after that, I'll put this story in a long hiatus. ^^

Anyway, I think I cracked when I wrote that funny part where Kurapika was tricked to declare such a ridiculous password to the doorman. I couldn't think of anything else but that lame and silly phrase. *nervous laugh* ^^

The first and second stanza of the song mentioned in this chapter came from the song **"24 Hours"** sung by **Cueshe**, while the third and fourth came from the song **"Secrets"** by **OneRepublic**.


	5. Chapter 04: Face Off

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OC Merula, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Contains (extreme) violence and gore.

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 04:**

**Face Off**

The cigarette dropped on the floor quietly. Art crashed it under his feet and the last smoke faded into darkness before the beacon of the cigarette died completely. The place appeared to be damped and dimmed. The incandescent lamps which were closed to being busted were the only ones that served the faint illumination along the meandering passageway. Fortunately, Art knew where he had to go.

The agent stopped by the mouth of an open passageway. There was a metal door at the far end guarded by an armed man in janitor jumpsuit. He sensed the agent's presence and recognized Art immediately.

"Hey there!" Art greeted with a wave as he began to walk towards the armed man in a janitor jumpsuit.

"Oy! Bakit ka naman napadpad dito, Ginoong Artemio? _(Hey! How did you end up here, Mr. Artemio?)"_ the guard replied almost irately with a sneer.

"Geez! Huwag mo nga akong tawagin sa buo kong pangalan! Tunog 'barok' tuloy! _(Don't call me with my full name! It sounds so 'barok'!)_" Art railed.

"Eh ano bang ginagawa mo dito kasi? Ano bang kailangan mo! _(What are you doing here anyway! What do you want!)_" The guard bit back, as he lay down his firearm at the base of the wall beside his chair.

"As a matter of fact, I need you to do something for me," Art replied with a humbler voice. He put his arm on the guard's shoulder and dragged him away into a walk as if they were going to have a drink in the pub. They walked to the opening of the passageway and turned to the dimmed left side of the junction.

The guard's voice echoed from the distant as he asked, "What is it?" Then there was a _thump_ and the guard's arm came out sprawling on the ground at the opening of the passage. Whistling cheerfully, Art strode over the unconscious man with a chain of keys bouncing on his hand and headed to the metal door with spring on his feet.

The metal door creaked open and Art walked down on several descending steps. It led to a room where the methane gas power generator with several pipes connected to it and mostly leading upwards.

"Now then," Art sighed, as he looked around at the pipelines and other metallic parts of the generator, "How should I work on this one?"

* * *

Kurapika could still clearly remember the scenes yesterday. That mutated creature that had gone berserk; it could have had turned all of them into its dinner if the research staffs had not taken a timely action. Fortunately, before the creature could utterly break the glass window, one of the staffs had pushed the button to release a gas tranquilizer into the control room. And then, a number of armed men ventured inside the room to shoot it with strong sedative, enough for it to drop unconscious on the floor, and be put into the cage. Kurapika saw them take the cage away, left her wondering where they would take it and what would they do to it afterwards. But everything obviously proved that she was working under a Mob leader who got a morbid passion with mad science. And of course, the Kuruta was smart enough to figure out that this kind of operation was meant to build biological weapons. She was just about to find out why the scarlet eyes were involved in this.

Mr. Mercado then spontaneously decided, since Art had personally introduced the Kuruta to him with a good impression, that the blonde hunter will be assigned to stay and to guard the very research facility herself, and thwart Black Riding Hood from there in case that the said criminal manage to break through and reached the main room.

Mr. Mercado announced such decision in Kurapika's face with a smirk, as if indicating that Kurapika was unfortunate enough to be assigned in such a place where she would have to endure more horrible sight that might occur again just in case another procedure was initiated, or in another notion, since it seemed that, in his agent's impression, Kurapika was the strongest among the recruits, she could survive a possible dangerous circumstances if any of the experiments finally manage to break out during another rampage, and possibly help in bringing it down.

Kurapika, however, accepted what was given to her without complaints. Being intimidated by such hypothetical risks was out of the question.

So she had spent almost more than 8 hours now guarding the place with the rest of Mr. Mercado's men armed with heavy rifles, and without sleep. It was past 5 in the morning at that moment. She sat on a couch as she watched over the place attentively and also secretly aware that a scarlet eye was kept in this place, and she was pondering if there were more. She gave out a mild yawn.

* * *

Merula had pulled over the motorboat along the inconspicuous part of the Boracay's coast; more specifically, along the rocky cliff. She could clearly see the white building of the research facility from where she was. It was just several hundred meters away from where she stood. The building was situated on an isolated hill adjacent to a rock cliff, practically concealed by thick bundles of trees, making it oblivious from the hotels and resorts that were more or less half kilometre away from it.

The humid but warm wind blew against Merula. Her short black coat flapped along the breeze, and her black locks were swept off her stoic milk-white face. She looked up at the sunrise with her emotionless right ebony eye, while the left was still covered by an eye patch.

Few seconds later, she proceeded to a swift sprint heading to the white building.

* * *

Art pulled out a handkerchief and tied it around the lower part of his face, concealing his mouth and nose. He then gave out a long irritated sigh. His breath barely escape from the cloth wrapped on his mouth.

"Damn it. You really owe me big time for risking my life doing this!" Art muttered to nobody in particular. He then drew out a wrench from under his long coat and started taking off the nuts from one of the pipelines of the methane gas generator. Then, he turned one of the valves with so much effort; so much strength was required it was enough to annoy him.

"Damn this thing is so aaaarrrggghhhh!" Art huffed while gritting his teeth. Fortunately, he succeeded turning it to an enough degree to let the methane gas flow out through the holes used to be occupied with the heavy hex nuts. He panted heavily as he landed on his butt on the floor, sweating from his recent labor.

It didn't take long before he pulled himself up again. He took off the handkerchief from his face and wiped his forehead.

"Fuck! I hate sweaty job!" Art exclaimed angrily. He shoved the wrench back beneath his coat and jogged out of the room. When he reached the alleyway where the unconscious guard was lying, he looked down at him apathetically, and then he fixed his suit and his hair.

"You're lucky if you wake up and got your sorry ass out of here before this place go blow up." Art said to the unconscious who obviously could not hear him, "My utter apologies, really. Just doing…..my _job_."

Soon, the agent went ambling away, whistling in a tone of _She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain_song, letting the methane gas leak out from the generator and into the ventilating system of the whole building.

* * *

Art was still cheerfully whistling as he made his way into the elevator, pretending innocent of what he did just a moment ago. He pushed the button to the uppermost floor where room 305 was located, to where the research facility was. On the way, he learned that the chained hunter was assigned in the research facility itself, so he brought an extra cup of coffee with him.

Before he enter to room 305, he noticed that eight of the recruited hunters where assigned to guard the entrance of the said room. Inside, he found Kurapika sitting on a couch in the waiting area, nodding her head due to drowsiness but was endeavouring to keep awake. The blonde hunter barely noticed Art as he sat beside her.

"You should take a little snooze you know." Art commented as he reached out the coffee to Kurapika. The blonde hunter lazily lifted her head and looked up at Art, then at the cup of coffee being offered to her. There was a short hesitation, but she took it eventually.

"Thanks," Kurapika said as she held the warm coffee under her mouth with both hands.

"Your job is to thwart and capture Mer… I mean Black Riding Hood. Not to deprive yourself of sleep guarding this place." Art explained as he drunk his coffee.

"I'm fine," Kurapika replied coldly. Then she took a slurp of her own coffee.

"I don't think so," Art said disapprovingly, "Look at you! You think you can capture the target in that condition? You think you would be able to face her off if ever she breaks in and attacks today?" He heaved a sigh, "The hunters took their shift. You should, too. Come on."

"I said I'm fine! It's not your job to worry about me. Besides, how come that I became a hunter if I couldn't even keep myself awake a bit longer on this job? Besides, you said it yourself, the target might attack today."

Kurapika looked up at Art and found him staring silently at her. Her face gave a faint flush.

"Wu-what!"

"You're one stubborn kid." Art said flatly. "Or should I say a hardworking paranoid. You want to capture her so badly that you'd risk your health on this. Could it be that…..you just need the money so badly?"

The blonde hunter gaped and looked at the agent angrily. She felt insulted with Art's hypothesis.

"That's ridiculous! It's….it's not like that at all! I'm not broke!" Kurapika protested.

"Ah!" Art raised a finger in the air. He remembered something, "That's right! I almost forgot. You're a _specialist_. People like you just want some action. You just like to thwart a worthy opponent eh?"

Kurapika sighed in annoyance, she leaned her chin over her hand with a swelling nerve on her temple. She knew this conversation would get them nowhere and she was just too drowsy to venture into an argument.

The agent stared at the blonde hunter who was fluttering her eyelids due to sleepiness. He asked himself who would have thought that this seemingly innocent kid was a hunter.

Art gave out an inaudible laughter.

"What's so funny!" Kurapika railed as she lifted her head and look up at the agent with confusion.

"Nothing."

Kurapika averted her gaze from the agent and sipped her coffee.

"You remind me of someone," Art said almost in a whisper.

"Excuse me? What did you sa-" before Kurapika could complete the last word; Art pulled Kurapika's head close and pressed his lips on the blonde's forehead. Kurapika's eyes widened with horror. The cup dropped from her hand, spilling the content on the floor. Kurapika snapped instantly and pushed the agent away.

"What the hell! Are you making fun of me!" The blonde hunter bellowed angrily, her chain materialized on her right hand. She was ready to use it.

Art almost stumbled backwards when he evaded a punch from the Kuruta. He managed to pull back into standing position immediately, yet he was careful enough not to spill his own coffee . He gave out a teasing grin and a peace sign at Kurapika and then scampered away, leaving Kurapika with a red angry face and huffing. The research staffs who had been watching the whole scene averted their gaze and went back to their tasks before they meet Kurpika's glare. They barely conceal their chuckles.

Kurapika sat back on the couch wide eyed, shocked by the recent unexpected event. Then she pressed her palm against her face in, shutting his eyes tight, as if doing that would erase the embarrassing memory. Soon, she then realized that maybe she does need to doze off a bit. And so she decided to lay her head on the back support of the couch for a few minutes.

* * *

Art just left Room 305. He returned to where the Coffee vending machine was, drinking the remaining coffee in his cup.

"Aren't we rather slow today?" Art said to nothing in paricular. "I just started a methane gas leak," he looked at her wrist watch briefly," almost an hour ago?" He said it with a tone of _'duh'_.

"Nagmamadali ka yata ngayon, Artemio?" _(You seem in a hurry today, Artemio?)_ A cold voice came from the agent's earring on his left ear. Art almost spew the coffee in his mouth when he heard his whole name mentioned in the phone. He coughed for several times. The coffee seemed to accidentally entered his lungs.

"Call me A-R-T! Will 'ya!" The agent squeaked while rubbing his throat, emphasizing the shortcut of his name.

"But…that's _'your'_ name, isn't it?" The voice reacted rather mystified. Art sighed in disappointment. He threw the empty plastic cup into the trash bin, near a pot of ornamental plant. He felt like the person he was talking to the phone was just being sarcastic but he knew she was not.

"Whatever. Uh…by the way, I met someone here." Art's voice turned soft.

"Uh…."

"Well, he's blonde. A kid. A kid as cute as you."

". . . . ."

"Can you spare him?"

"You want to pet him?"

"I hope that's possible. But no. I just want to have him spared."

"Why?"

"No particular reason, to be quite honest."

"Honest? I know you're lying though…But okay, that depends if he won't get in my way."

Art took a deep breath and looked upwards. He knew in the first place that keeping the blonde hunter out of _'her'_ way was vague to happen.

"Where are you now?"

"I'm already here."

"Well, it's pretty damn quietly here if you are '_here_'. How about a sign?"

Merula strode over several freshly mutilated bodies of soldiers and hunters lying on a corridor; she was careful not to step onto bloody pieces of human flesh, dismembered limbs and pools of blood and have her clothes stained by it. She was heading to the vaulted door carrying a dismembered hand. The monitoring camera hung wrecked on the ceiling. She pressed the mutilated hand against a palm scanner and the door opened like a flower. The armed men and hunters who were on the other side were surprised to see her sudden emergence. They started shooting at her instantly.

Art heard the sound of gunfire through his earring. The agent just simply raised an eyebrow.

Guns were constantly firing at the opened vault door. Thick smoke started to fill the room. There was a swift flash of faint glimmer as thin as a filament through the haze of gunfire, and then one of the soldiers' head flew off from its body. One by one, the others suffered the same fate, even the hunters.

A soldier who only had his arm cut off managed to totter away from the smoke, heading to the alarm button while leaving a trail of blood on the floor. Merula just watched him press it with his remaining hand.

The sound of alarm echoed throughout the building, and to where Art was, and in Room 305, which abruptly woke up Kurapika. It was a clear sign that Black Riding Hood had finally beached in. The Kuruta then began to make her move.

The soldier who had pressed the alarm button now lay headless on the floor, while Merula had already passed another corridor and entered into an elevator.

"How's that for a sign?" Merula said flatly as she stepped into the elevator. Her face had never expressed any emotions as always.

"Fair enough," Art's voice replied from Merula's left earring.

"The Eye Collector, where is he?" She asked as the elevator door closed.

"He's not here," Art replied. "But you'll find someone here who probably knew his whereabouts."

Art said something more to the receiver and then Merula pressed the stone in her earring, the line went off before Art could even add, "Bye. See 'ya. Love 'ya." Then, he pulled something from under his coat-a black cube no bigger than a golf ball. He pressed something on it then a green light start blinking on one of its side. He dropped it into the pot of ornamental plant, beside the trash bin. It lay hidden under the thick leaves of the plant.

Soon, a troupe of armed men came passing by.

"What's going on? Is the target here?" Art asked them innocently, pretending that he was as surprised as them.

* * *

A hunter came face to face with Black Riding Hood. He was the only one left standing to guard the vault door of a certain room. But definitely not the Room 305. A number of dead and mutilated armed bodies lay on heaps on both sides of the area.

That hunter was holding a pair of samurai sword. Suddenly, he swung them repeatedly in lightning speed producing crescent shape forces that practically destroy the entire floor. It seemed that no one could possibly have survived that attack. However, nobody was in the spot where the forces had collided. Merula landed behind the hunter. Her hand jerked, and a string as thin as a spider web came reeling back into the metal ring in the middle finger of her right hand. The end of the string had a bead of hematite attached into a pendulum-shape of the same material. Then, the hunter collapsed to the floor; blood came gushing from his boody and his four limbs detached from his torso. Suddenly, the eye patch on Merula's left eye unfastened from her face and fell to the ground. She didn't bother picking it up.

The vault door opened and Merula stepped in. There were several rows of glass cylinders big enough to contain a human being in each of them. Inside each cylinder were creatures with various deformities, hideous and repulsive in their own right, submerged in transparent liquid chemical.

At the farthest end of the room was a single cylinder that contained a female human head. Her ebony locks were swaying along the flow of the liquid. Her eyes of black lifeless irises were half open and seemed looking down at the person in front of her. Her face was almost identical to the visitor in front of her. Merula looked back up at her with the usual stoic expression. Her left eye revealed to be the colour of amethyst without the eye patch covering it.

"You shouldn't have run from me," she told to the floating head inside the cylinder, "Mother."

_Merula could still clearly recall in her memories the dead bodies of her whole tribe gathered in heaps, in a certain isolated place surrounded by woodland. Merula was chasing someone. It was her mother whose face filled with fear of her. She was running in the woods and away from her. Some armed men tried to defend her mother from her, but most of them ended bathing in their own blood. Fortunately, before Merula could reach her, her mother had escaped through a helicopter; leaving her behind in that forest with all the bodies of the people she had killed_.

"You wouldn't have ended up here if you didn't run," Merula added then she walked back to the vault door. She dropped a black cube that looked identical to the one Art dropped in a pot of an ornamental plant a moment ago. It also had a blinking green light on one of its side. Merula then left the place and headed to Room 305.

* * *

Mr. Mercado came running like a mouse chased by a cat into Room 305. He had been pleading the remaining living hunters to defend him from Black Riding Hood, crying out that he doesn't want to die. He chose to hide in Room 305 with the conviction that the place had the strongest security system and guarded by more hunters that he hired. The staffs, however, in that room had panicked and chose to leave the place to spare their own lives from the coming danger.

Moreover, Mr. Mercado made a mistake for underestimating Black Riding Hood. Most of his men, though heavily armed with most advanced high-tech weapon, were killed easily; same faith happened to the rest of the hunters. He now believed that his only hope was the sanctuary in Room 305 and the chained Nen Specialist, Kurapika.

"You!" Mr. Mercado called the blonde hunter, his face and voice were horror-stricken, "You have to save me!" He pleaded to Kurapika, while gripping tight on her arms and kneeling, "You have to make sure I'll escape this goddamn hell alive! I'll pay you as much as you want."

"To tell you the truth, I can't promise you that," she replied coldly. A person like Mr. Mercado, Kurapika thought, hardly deserves salvation. After all, he used human lives for illegal experiments without mercy. Why would he even deserve mercy? But he was her employer and she ought to take it as part of her job as much as possible.

She then thought of something.

"Is there any other possible exit in this room?" Kurapika asked her boss, "We might use it for your escape." Mr. Mercado's face lightened up.

Few minutes later, Kurapika and Mr. Mercado reached the farther side of the facility. Mr. Mercado was panting in exhaustion as they stopped in a room with series of huge cages. Kurapika's eyes widened in horror when she noticed that some cages contained children, and women. It dawned on her that other than convicts, Mr. Mercado was using innocent people in his experiments as well.

"You bastard!" Kurapika gave her boss a strong kick in the face. Mr. Mercado writhed after he rolled on the floor several feet away from the blonde hunter. "You monster! You used these people as your guinea pigs as well!"

Before Mr. Mercado could answer, there were some sharp but faint flashes around him and the floor collapsed beneath his feet. Kurapika heard Mr. Mercado's scream as if he was being dragged away. Instantly, the blonde hunter jumped into the hole and landed on the passageway beneath, but was unable to see in the midst of haze and debris. However, she noticed a shadow moving ahead. She ran after it quickly, while she pressed her cellphone on her ear to contact Art. However, the said agent won't answer her call, but she proceeded with the chase otherwise.

Soon, Kurapika found herself standing at the veranda with a huge opening. Looking down was the grand ballroom, where the hunters gathered in a meeting before. Down there, Kurapika saw Black Riding Hood in person for the first time. Mr. Mercado was next to her feet, shivering and unable to move due to intense fear. The other hunters who used to guard Room 305 were now surrounding her. They were oblivious to Kurapika who was watching them from behind a column.

The blonde hunter saw two of the hunters made the first move, attacking Black Riding Hood with their Nen weapons boldly. Seconds later, one of those two dropped on the floor with his legs detached from his body, he collapse to the floor while screaming in agony. Soon, Black Riding Hood jumped in the mid air. Another hunter dared to encounter her off ground; attacking her with his fists in lightning speed. Her dodges were incredibly swift, too, that not a single punch landed on her. Then, she and the hunter landed on the floor, but instantly the hunter move forward to give her another blow with a concentrated Gyo. Unfortunately, Black Riding Hood caught his knuckles in one hand. The hunter screamed in agony as the said criminal broke the bones of his fingers, and then twisted his arm using only her one hand.

The rest of the hunters retreated; Black Riding Hood ignored them as they scurried away, and ambled back to Mr. Mercado who was trembling on the floor and practically wet his pants.

"Tell me where the Eye Collector is," Black Riding Hood demanded Mr. Mercado, her face stoic and far from hostile expression, but the coldness in her black and amethyst eyes seemed great enough to frozen anyone that looked back at them.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about!" Mr. Mercado stammered, "I swear, I don't know anything!"

"Lying is futile," Black Riding Hood replied flatly. Then she stripped off the glove in her left hand. Her right hand picked Mr. Mercado by the collar, stirring his face to face her. She pressed her bare left palm against his face. Then, some nerves from that hand swelled and invaded through the flesh of Mr. Mercado's face. Kurapika watched it with dread.

Black Riding Hood saw images from Mr. Mercado's memories. They flashed in her mind like a swift slide show. Then she let go of Mr. Mercado's face, leaving it bloody with holes. His body was shaking violently and hysterically on the floor as if being poisoned by a snake. Then Black Riding Hood put the glove back on his blood-stained left hand. She raised her right hand with a metal ring. An abrupt and swift sway of it and Mr. Mercado's head detached from his body. The blood gushed from its wound and pooled under his corpse.

Merula was about to leave the place when she heard some movement behind her. She immediately leaped in the mid air before the metal ball of the chain hit her. She flipped overhead the blonde hunter. However, before Black Riding Hood landed to the floor, Kurapika's dowsing chain slung towards her. Merula was alert enough to pull out her own weapon that it met and collided with the blonde hunter's chain.

Merula's hand made a swift movement which was almost invisible in the eye. But her weapon, instead of wounding Kurapika's body, deflected from the hunter, as if there was an invisible barrier on her. Apparently, Kurapika was starting to pant and sweat in exhaustion, and Merula noticed this.

Kurapika, although she knew it was quite risky, ventured into using Ken while using her chain in offensive mode. Ken was protecting her body from any attack, but draining her aura quickly, and she needed to succeed in capturing her target before she ran out of time.

Black Riding Hood made a move and Kurapika met her attack again. This time, not only their weapons collided, but they intertwined each other. The two appeared like being engaged in a tag of war with their weapons, being stuck end to end, served as the rope.

Merula pulled her thread and it almost carried Kurapika with it, but the blonde hunter quickly fought against its force. However, she realized that Black Riding Hood was incredibly strong that her feet slid on the floor forward inch by inch.

Finally, Black Riding Hood increased the power in her pull and it broke Kurapika's chain. But the thread, being freed from the tangle, whipped and cut through several concrete foundation of the ballroom hall that caused some parts of the veranda to collapse and create clouds of debris. Merula immediately jumped away from the haze and searched for Kurapika, but she couldn't find her.

Merula used her sensitive ears to detect the blonde hunter's movement. She sensed Kurapika behind her. She made a sharp turn to deliver another attack but suddenly, she couldn't move. Her right hand, which was about to draw her weapon, was stuck in the mid air. Merula felt that there was an invisible force restraining her. She lifted her head and saw Kurapika ahead, panting and sweating intensely. One of her black contact lenses had fallen off and revealed one of her eyes glowing scarlet. A chain from the blonde hunter's right hand extended upwards. It dawned to Merula that that chain must be connected to the force that was now pinning her down, only that, Kurapika cleverly manipulated it to appeared invisible while she had been drawing it to interweave all over her without Merula noticing it.

Merula attempted to pull her right hand down and the chain from Kurapika's hand pulled up. The blonde hunter fought against it and endeavoured to pull back her chain which only caused to impede the movement of Merula's right hand. Kurapika's panting turned worse though. The Kuruta was running out of strength for using Ken too much.

"Kurapika."

The blonde hunter was utterly surprised when she heard Black Riding Hood called her name.

"I never thought you had survived the massacre." Merula added, her voice was flat and cold.

Kurapika froze, and her eyes widened with great awe when she saw the amethyst colour in her enemy's left eye faded, and glowed with scarlet hue.

"Wh-who…are….you?" Kurapika stammered.

Merula, could now see the chain that had intertwined all over her body now that her left eye had turned red. Gyo was concentrated on that red eye of hers, and she could see Kurapika's nen clearly, including the judgement chain buried in the blonde hunter's heart.

Abruptly, Merula broke out of the chains by breaking it with brute force. Shattered pieces of chain dissolved in the air, since they were made of nen. Before Kurapika could even react, Merula's foot landed on her stomach. She was thrown off the ground and her back crashed against the wall. Kurapika made an effort to stand but her knees gave in. She stooped facing the ground and spat some blood. Her head was also wounded that the warm red liquid streamed down at the side of her face.

A shadow landed over her, then, Merula's sharp thread interweaved around Kurapika's neck. Fortunately, Kurapika's hands had blocked several loops of the thread, impeding the sharp thing to burry into her throat. Her Ken was still on, but weak. The skin on her nape was beginning to form several red bloody lines.

Merula pulled Kurapika up by the thread around her neck, and pushed the blonde hunter against the wall. Kurapika gradually lifted her face and revealed both of her eyes glowing with scarlet colour. She saw Black Riding Hood's face inches away from her. Merula's left eye was still glowing scarlet as well. Merula pulled the thread around Kurapika's neck tighter. The blonde hunter winced and the blood started to flow from her hands and neck.

"Red….eyes…" Kurapika stammered. "Wh-...hng….are…you?"

"What do you mean?" Merula replied with the usual impassive tone. Black and red eyes were staring down coldly at the blonde hunter, "You don't remember?"

Kurapika's Ken was starting to fade fast. If this kept up, her head would surely fly off her body.

"But...you were there," Merula continued, her voice was barely a whisper now, "You saw me…_**died**_."

….to be continued.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__First of all, to the readers, never…I mean never try to do the same thing Art did with the methane gas generator! It was very dangerous. In real life, a slight leak of methane gas from a pipeline can cause explosion. So never attempt to do such experiment, okay! :O_

_Anyway, Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyy! XD. I'm finally done with the__**"Face Off"**__chapter which I've been looking forward to write and post. The reason why I refer Kurapika here as female is because I think it would be interesting to see two strong females in a fight. :3__Merula vs. Kurapika__. And I would like to have this fanfiction a__**Feminist Theory**__. ^^_

_I think I wrote some parts in shortcut, since I was in a real hurry. -_- I didn't have the time to write them more elaborately and dramatically._

_So then, now that this chapter is done, I'll be putting this fanfiction under hiatus. I need to concentrate working on my projects. T.T_

_Keep those reviews coming anyway. Thanks._


	6. Chapter 05: The Escape part 1

04

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OC Merula, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Rated T for some bad language.

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 05:**

**The Escape**

**[part 1]**

"Whaaaat! You're still here!" Art exclaimed as he abruptly appeared several feet away from Merula and Kurapika, panting. He rubbed his nape in exasperation. "We only got less than 8 minutes before this whole building ex-," he stopped. He noticed something about the blonde hunter. Walking warily towards the two, he pointed a finger at the Kuruta with wide eyes and gaping mouth.

"No fucking way!" Art blurted with incredulous expression. His eyes fixed on Kurapika who was puffing and glaring back at him with bloody face and luminous scarlet eyes, "You're a….a…."

"A Kuruta." Merula finished the sentence.

"But…how the hell….!.?"

"You don't remember her?" Merula inquired Art with the usual deadpan look. Then, there was a short silence. Art noticed the crystal earring at the Kuruta's right ear. He then came up with a startling realization

"Shit! Now what do we do?" Art sighed exasperatedly.

"Are you…. with her?" Kurapika choked angrily while glaring at the agent while still trying to fight against Merula's sharp thread that intertwined around her hands and neck. The pain in her flesh that gradually worsen by each second reminded her that her Ken continued to fade away.

Soon, Art's expression softened. The agent stretched one arm, pressed his palm against the wall centimetres away from the blonde hunter's head and hovered by her side. Art was two and a half heads higher than Kurapika. His face was just inches away from her. He gave the Kuruta a genuine grin.

"Yes princess. I am," Art admitted gladly.

"Treacherous bastard!" Kurapika spat at him.

"Who said that we're allies?" Art replied with a shrug and a sneer that mocked the Kuruta's foolishness. "Anyways," his voice suddenly sounded grave and anxiety invaded his countenance. He looked at Merula who still firmly held the thread around the Kuruta's hand and neck, "I'm sure _'they_' already know about this. About _her_!"

Not far from the three, there was a small surveillance camera focused on them. Somewhere, probably in the same building where Kurapika, Merula, and Art were, or maybe from somewhere else's building far away, was a dark room containing a series of computer screens. And all those screens showed the same the live video footage of the said three.

Kurapika on the other hand, was utterly surprised after hearing Art used the pronoun _'her'_ to her. The agent already knew about her _real_ gender.

"It's inevitable." Merula said flatly.

"Now what?" Art said, getting uptight.

"We can't kill her….._here_."

"I know you're gonna say that." Art muttered as he vexingly ran his hand though his coffee-brown hair.

Then, Merula turned back to Kurapika with the usual cold and impassive stare. She pulled the Kuruta closer by the thread and told to her face, "Come with me…or **die**."

"I won't fight it if I were you, Kurapika," Art added as he pulled out a cigarette stick and put it in his mouth but did not light it, "It's for your own sake, too. Believe me."

The blonde hunter managed to draw a sarcastic smirk, "Believe you huh?"

"Riiiiiight," Art remembered he was a traitor to her, "This time you have to believe me…._for real_. Besides, you got no choice. It's either do or die by being blown to pieces together with this place." Art looked at his wrist watch, "Less than 7 minutes to go before that happens. So what d'ya say?"

Silence was the Kuruta's answer.

"And I'll stop sending Zetsu over to Black Riding Hood if I were you. It's useless," Art added, "Do you want to kill yourself by draining your aura to death?"

Art was right. The blonde hunter had been using Ken and sending Zetsu at the same time towards Merula through her thread for several minutes now, believing that this process might weaken her opponent, only that it was proven futile for some reason she could not understand. It was only draining her aura even more. As Kurapika used Gyo on her eyes, although she was sending Zetsu over her opponent's body, she saw that Merula's body still maintain the normal flow of aura like that of a normal human being, but there was an intense concentration of aura in her left eye. Wait, how did Art know she was using Zetsu? Could it be that Art can use Nen as well?

"Black Riding Hood, or should I say her real name, Merula, was not actually using Nen in battle," Art added, "Her whole body couldn't even be affected by Nen, except her left Kuruta eye. So I'll stop doing it now if I were you. Using Nen against a non-Nen user like her is useless. It's just a waste of energy."

Kurapika stared up at Merula's impassive face, and noticed that the scarlet glow in her left eye had faded already and returned to its amethyst colour.

Kurapika realized that the agent was right. She could not die now. Dying here and now was out of the question. She reminded herself that she had not fully accomplished her goal yet. This was not the time to be stubborn and to let her pride take over. Finally, she decided to let herself get carried away by the flow.

"Fine. I'll come with you," Kurapika said reluctantly. She impede the flow of Zetsu from her body.

There was a swift movement of Merula's left hand and suddenly Kurapika stooped on the ground, freed from the sharp thread. The Kuruta coughed several times while facing the ground in fours. Her hand fumbled on the shallow but bleeding wound around her neck created by Merula's thread. Her nape got the worst cut though.

Abruptly, Merula's hand grabbed the blood-stained collar of the blonde's hunter, pulled her up and flung her towards Art. The agent caught her.

"Drag her with you," Merula ordered. She was already walking away when the agent looked back at her.

"You're not coming with us?" Art asked frowning, while helping Kurapika back on her feet.

"I'm not done here yet," Merula answered and disappeared in a flash before the agent could protest.

Art looked down at the blonde hunter whose body was bent down and appeared to be too weak to stand up. He tried to help her up by carefully supporting her by the arm.

"Can you walk?" Art asked the Kuruta. Concern was almost apparent in his voice. But she just snapped her arm off the agent's hold. She was still panting heavily. Gradually, her breathing calmed down. The blonde hunter raised her right, trembling hand and the chains appeared about it. Then, a chain with a metal cross at its end hovered around her body. As it glowed with aura, the wound in the Kuruta's neck slowly healed and disappeared, as well as the other wounds in her body. Art watched it all happen with utter astonishment; the cigarette stick in his mouth was close to falling off as he gaped. The Kuruta had proven herself to be a Nen Specialist by recovering fast like that using her Nen.

Kurapika stood up straight and stretched her body. Her hand rubbed the back of her neck, eyes shut as if she just recovered from a bad fall; her head swayed left to right, and then she opened her eyes. They were no longer scarlet. They were back to their cerulean colour and they stared untrustingly to the agent's hand that reached out to her.

"Well, shall we go?" Art smiled at her like a Cheshire cat.

"Whatever." Kurapika said snobbishly, ignoring Art's hand as she walked pass him.

_"I'm getting too old for this shit."_ Art muttered, shrugged and rolled his eyes. He strode after Kurapika and managed caught up with her hurried pace.

"Hey! I lead the way here!" He reminded her. "And to make things clear, you're our hostage, so don't you dare try to escape. Merula can easily hunt you down."

Abruptly, Kurapika whirled sharply, pulled out his dowsing chain and settled in a pose ready to attack the agent. Art did not flinched from the threat though. He just smirked instead.

"Don't take me for a fool!" Kurapika huffed while her chained hand hovered threateningly between her and Art, "You think I'm going to let myself be taken hostage and be killed in the end by the likes of you?"

Art heaved a long annoyed sigh. He shut his eyes with and scratched his head agitatedly. _This is not the right time to argue_ the agent thought. Art took off the cigarette from his mouth and let it stuck carelessly between his fingers.

"If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about 'being our hostage'." Art said apathetically. "You should be more concerned that Merula will actually hunt you down and kill you for good if you let yourself get caught by the 'third party'."

"Third party?" Kurapika frowned. Before Art could answer, there was suddenly a rattling noise coming from outside. Then a black helicopter descended and hovered by the window, sending strong gust of wind through the opening and into the corridor where Kurapika and Art were.

"Shit!" Art exclaimed, "Speaking of the devil!" Abruptly, the agent grabbed the Kuruta's hand and dragged her away.

"Hey let go of me!" Kurapika protested as she struggled to free his hand from Art's grasp while being dragged in a run.

"Shit! Cut the whining will 'ya?" Art snapped at her, but the Kuruta finally managed to pull off her hand free. "What the-!"

SLAP!

Art's head was tilted sideward, eyes wide open in shock, and his right cheek was rather swollen with a fresh red palm print of the Kuruta's hand.

Art pulled back his head into position and scowled at the blonde hunter. His hand caressed his swollen cheek. Soon, his face transfigured into something like that of a grade-schooler suffering from a toothache and close to crying.

"What an obnoxious thing to do!" Art whimpered, "I'm doing this to save your sorry ass, you brat!"

"You don't have to hold my hand while running you know! You can just tell me to run!" Kurapika bit back.

"What's the fucking big deal about holding your goddamn hand," Art retorted, "It's not like you're gonna get pregnant because of it!" And then he muttered additional complaints beyond the Kuruta's ear shot, but the Kuruta just ignored it with a 'hmp' like a scolded spoiled child.

"Fine! I had it with you!" Arms rose in defeat, Art turned his back from Kurapika and started walking away hurriedly, not minding if the blonde hunter would follow him or not. "You know what? Your paranoia is just out of place but okay, if you wanna do it on your own, go ahead! It's not like you know the way around in this building. We only got less than 5 minutes to get ourselves out of here before our sorry ass got blown up into pieces by bombs, literally.

"Bombs!" Kurapika exclaimed in alarm. She remembered that he agent had been mentioning for several times that the whole place was going to explode soon, "Wait!" Art was not paying attention to her anymore though and was already meters from her and running. The agent let the blonde hunter caught up with him.

"_Pucha! Sasama din pala, ang dami pang arte_!" Art mumbled bitterly, _"Nasampal pa ako! Bwiset! Mga babae talaga oh!"_

"What did you say?" Kurapika asked while the two of them continued to run side by side.

"Shut up and run!" Art replied angrily. Dejected, the Kuruta continued to run silently along with him.

Finally, they winded to the left which turned out to be a corridor of elevator doors.

"Here!" Art pointed to one of the elevators as he run towards it. Kurapika just followed him without any protest. The agent constantly pressed the elevator button agitatedly, but then he realized this door would take too long to open so he ran to another elevator door.

"No. Here!" But several others turned out the same, "Shit!"

"No. In here!" and another. Finally, the agent stopped. Defeated, standing still with a cranky expression, his brows creased together deeply; air blew from his nose like that of an angry bull, and finally decided in a flat intonation, "Oh! Fuck it! Let's take the stairs!"

When the two rushed down the stairs and reached another landing, a group of men in seemingly military armour pointed their rifles at them. Art and Kurapika impulsively put their hands in the air.

* * *

One of the vaulted doors collapsed inside Room 305. Merula stepped inside. It was a room filled with bottles of various preserved specimens of humans and non-humans orderly arranged in a white shelves thrust against the white walls of the said room. Merula scanned every shelf hurriedly but carefully, and found a single scarlet eye preserved in alcohol inside a cylinder at the farthest end. She snatched it quickly and fled from the room.

When she stepped out of the main exit of Room 305, riffles pointed at her ready to fire.

* * *

"Wew! Glad you're here!" Art chortled to the armed men with rifles aiming at them. He dropped his hands down insouciantly (Kurapika did, too, but gingerly) and swayed them, trying to play cool, "The target's over there," pointing his thumb backwards, "Thank god we didn't have a direct encounter with her or we're already dead!"

"Hand us over the Kuruta Mr. Art," one of the armed men replied gravely, his rifle was not stirring from the agent and the blonde hunter. Art froze for a moment, but managed to conceal his tension.

"What are you talking about? What Kuruta?" he showed a frown and acted like innocent of the truth. It was the most convincing acting the agent could pull off but it failed.

"Hand us over the person with you."

"But-"

"Just do it and we'll let you get out of here a live, and the big boss might as well forgive you from your treachery."

Art knew he was already busted. Still, he went on.

"You mean this guy? A Kuruta?" pointing his thumb at the blonde hunter beside him. _Like she's going to hand herself over to you idiots!_ Art added thoughtfully. Kurapika was rather surprised that Art was introducing her as a 'guy' now, but it already dawned on her that the agent was planning something. Nevertheless, she liked it better if only few people knew about her secret, so she kept her mouth shut and let the agent do all the talking.

"Hand him over! NOW!" one of the armed men ordered angrily while steering the end of his rifle more precisely to Art's head.

Art realized it was no use to keep denying it?

"And what if I refuse?" Art replied with a smirked, trying to cover his nervousness with fake confidence. "You can't shoot me. Us. Or any of us. We'll all be blown into pieces if you do. Methane gas had already filled every space of this building just so you know."

Anxiety suddenly filled the countenance of the armed men though they were wearing combat helmets. Art realized his words were starting to take effects, he was not lying though.

"It's a trick!" Another armed man declared.

"No. It's not!" Art replied seriously. "If I'm lying I should have already used my gun on you bastards!" Art noticed from the corner of his eye that Kurapika's chain was gradually manifesting on her right hand. She was going to attack.

Suddenly, Art started coughing hard. He bent his body low and coughed constantly. The armed men just frowned, hesitant and confuse of the agent's behaviour and not sure if they should believe it or not.

"I…I think…" Art wheezed, while rubbing his neck hard, "I think…..I've taken enough….Methane gas."

"You're not fooling us!" Another armed man exclaimed firmly.

"'course! I'm…not…fooling you!" Art rasped. "Methane gas….is…odourless..so you…(cough) wouldn't know."

Uneasiness started to manifest on the armed men's expression. Art's acting was working.

Soon, Art turned to Kurapika and kneeled down to her, while he continued to cough. He grabbed onto Kurapika by both of her wrists, pulling the blonde hunter to bend down as well. Her long golden bangs concealed her face. Art maintain a firm hold on the Kuruta's wrists, not letting them go. Kurapika knew Art was actually trying to prevent her from what she was about to do. And this pissed her off real bad. Good thing that her head was bent down and her hair was concealing her livid countenance.

"You sure are good at this kind of dirty act, you pervert!" Kurapika whispered rather angrily to Art who continued with his poisoned-by-the-methane-gas role playing. Her head was hovering only foot away from Art's neck. Art craned a bit and looked up briefly at the Kuruta. He coughed even harder and louder. He bowed down his head to conceal how amused he was with what he saw on Kurapika's expression.

"It's not wise to fight your way against them," Art whispered between loud coughs, "It's too risky. You're chain might create sparks that will actually set this whole building ablaze."

"So, you're not lying about the methane gas?" Kurapika whispered back almost angrily.

"No!" (coughs)

"This coughs of yours? Is it for real?"

"No." (coughs)

"This is your fault, isn't it? And the bombs….. you're the one who planted them in this building?"

Fast repetitive coughs were the only reply Kurapika received.

"I knew it! You bastard!" the blonde hunter hissed. One of her brow was twitching in great annoyance.

"Just let me handle this okay?" Art continued in a hard tone, "Just play along with me."

Art took his hands off the Kuruta's wrists and began to crawl away from her to the side while wheezing hard. He craned to the armed men who had lowered their firearms a bit and were looking at him with hesitation and anxiety. Art whipped his head away from their sight. They couldn't see how his eyes smiled evilly in victory. His hand pressed over his mouth to conceal and suppress his laugher that was about to explode. Then Art began to wheeze harder followed by an loud gasp which practically made the armed men flinch.

Art stretched out a hand to them, and mouth gaping widely, as if asking the armed men's help…(or mercy) making himself appeared running out of air; he made himself looked pathetic as much as he could. Kurapika kept her head down to conceal her face which was endeavouring to suppress two kinds of emotions which wanted to surge out on her so badly. She didn't know whether she should laugh or be annoyed by this. Also, Kurapika was trying hard to prevent herself from smacking the agent's head and tell him to get on with his plan already, because seriously, she believed that his trick was utterly lame and ridiculous. Although, she had to admit that what he was doing was surprisingly and absurdly effective, or maybe, the armed men were just simply idiots to fall for it.

"You….." Art told the armed men breathlessly, while his hand still reaching out to them dramatically, "Y-you can….take him." And his body dropped flat to the floor, and lay still there, pretending unconscious.

Kurapika flinched to what she heard from Art. Was the agent going to hand her over? Was she betrayed? She saw the armed men began ascending to the steps towards her. She was about to pull out her chain but she felt a hand grabbing one of her ankles. She looked down and saw Art winked at her. _Okay, so this was part of his plan?_ the blonde hunter guessed._ Okay, fine_. And thus, this time, she decided to cooperate with Art (whatever he was planning). And this time she will try to play along with him. And she hoped that this time, she did not make a mistake trusting a stranger.

* * *

"What? We can't fire? Why!" One of the armed men in front of Room 305 whispered through his headphone. His comrades felt uneasy and confused upon hearing it, "Methane gas! Shit!"

Merula heard the voice from the armed man's receiver. Thanks to her super sensitive ears. Now she was certain that Art had executed the plan well.

"Now what?" Another armed man asked in wary whisper while he and the rest did not stir their rifles from Merula's direction.

"We got no choice but to use our tramp card earlier than expected," one of them said.

Abruptly, Merula's hand made some swift movement. In a flash, the floor under her feet collapsed and then she was out of sight. The armed men run towards the hole in the floor and gathered there in a circle only to see another series of holes in the floors beneath.

One of the armed men pressed a button in his headphone and yelled on it, "Release HC #021 into the building now!"

"But Sir! We and the rest of our men are still in the building! We might put ourselves in danger, too!" one of them protested.

"Then try not to meet '_it'_on your way out of here!" came the reply directly to the other's face, "Sealed all the entrance and exits and then move out!"

The armed men dispersed away from Room 305, unaware of the black cube with blinking green light hidden under the thick leaves of an ornamental plant on a pot nearby.

* * *

Kurapika put her hands up, indicating that she was not going to fight nor escape. She made her chain on her right hand vanish. The armed men were relieved that their target was not giving them a hard time, believing that she was unarmed.

_"Let me handle this okay? Just play along with me."_ Art's statement echoed in the blonde hunter's head. Kurapika hoped that she could keep up with it until Art pulled out his tramp card, if ever he had one.

Three of the armed men warily approached Kurapika, and Art who was still playing dead by the blonde hunter's feet. Most rifles were now pointing at the Kuruta, and it seemed they had finally disregarded the agent. When they reached the landing, most of them put their firearms down so they could use their hand to restrain the Kuruta; Art was still immobile as their feet got close to his body.

The armed men were about to stride over the agent's body to grab the Kuruta when Art flipped and rammed his foot against one of them, making an armed man fall backwards and over the other men behind him. Art threw over his long coat over to them which veiled them, depriving them of sight. A metal wrench then flung towards them and it seemed that it hit one of the armed men's head who had been floundering under the coat. Then, all of them rolled down like boulders over the staircase. They crashed on each other and formed a heap at the base of the steps.

In seconds, Art and Kurapika were running in a corridor. They ran back to the floor where they had been before recently, only this time, they headed to the opposite route.

* * *

The ceiling in the second floor collapsed into large pieces of concrete blocks and dropped hard to the floor. The impact was so great it almost destroyed the ground floor itself. The next thing that landed over the heaps of concrete broken blocks was Merula's feet. She was crouching there for a moment as what her silhouette suggest through the smoke and dust hazing the air. Then that silhouette leaped away from the haze and revealed to be covered all over with debris.

She was still brushing off the dust from her body when she heard something from not so distant. The cry was unearthly, angry, and not human. For several seconds, Merula made a hard face while staring deadpan to the direction of the cry. Soon, Merula was heading to the said direction in quick but cautious pace. She needed to go there because she could not just left the place while that _'creature' _was still there, breathing.

…to be continued….

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__Okay, I'm taking back what I said before that I will update this fic by August. A miracle happened (or was it really a miracle?__-_- ). I got 7 days off from work. Actually, I should be hibernating and relaxing for a whole week because my body had finally reached its limit. I've been lacking complete sleeping hours for so many days and I thought I can still keep up, but no, and since I'm still human and although my mind was telling me I could still handle the pressure, my body just didn't agree with it. So then, off to days off. For a couple of days that I actually did nothing but sleep and eat, I felt that I've recovered fast. And the next day, I remembered about this fic and I remembered that I should only start updating it again by August but then later that night, the idea came teeming in my head, and it wouldn't let me sleep! So then I go: "Okay fine…write it down!" and after I wrote half of the chapter and gained a headache, I dropped onto my bed snoring. ~_~ Two more days and I finished the whole chapter. So perhaps, I thought, if ever I'm suffering from insomnia, I'll write a little…=P_

_Anyways! More or less three weeks ago, I watched the video (again) of Kurapika and Ubogin's fight from a certain website (it's not in Youtube). I think [if I'm not mistaken; 'coz honestly, I couldn't watched TV too often anymore since I started on my project] the last time Hunter X Hunter was aired in the local television was 7 or 8 years ago, and when the episode reached the Genei Ryodan Arc, a lot of episodes was edited due to some scenes with too much violence. So back to the Kurapika vs. Ubogin video, I've watched it to actually study Kurapika's Nen ability (for this fanfic's sake actually, and that because I couldn't actually understand Nen before when the anime was aired 7 years ago.). I learned that Kurapika wasn't able to actually create an unbreakable chain but was able to create an unbreakable chain with the pledge that that chain will only be used against the Genei Ryodan (why? I think you know the rules about Nen already, if not you can search the Hunterspedia ^^). Moreover, Kurapika's chain can only be broken by a Genei Ryodan member (or probably by anyone) by brute strength. In Ubogin's case however, his enormous power was generated from his Nen ability as an Enhanser therefore, when Kurapika sent Zetsu over to his body through his Chain Jail, Ubogin's strength and movement was restrained. That gave me the conclusion that Nen can only be affected by Nen. So that's why in the previous chapter of this fic, Merula was able to easily break from Kurapika's chain since she doesn't actually use Nen for offense (or probably also in defence) in battle (besides, the Kuruta didn't use the chain jail but the dowsing chain, if ever she did, she'll die by the 'pledge'). So then, I think Merula would actually be a tough opponent for Kurapika in a fight if she is not a non-Nen user, and that her only weapon were her extraordinary strength and speed, as well as her pendulum, her weapon made of very sharp and sturdy thread made of special material that can withstand the strength of steel. ^^_

_Anyway, Merula's character design__(if ever you saw her illustration/s in my deviantart)__was actually inspired from Eli, the vampire character in the movie__**Let The Right One In**__, I just change her hair cut a bit ^^._

_Sorry for the long author's note. But I just couldn't help sharing my opinion here. =P_


	7. Chapter 06: The Escape part 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OC Merula, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, gory and bloody scenes.

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 06**

**The Escape**

**[ part 2 ]**

Kurapika was feeling uneasy. Aside from the exhaustion her body was bearing from the constant running throughout the building's passageway (which she was not sure where they were heading now), and that the exhaustion was gradually getting worse, she felt uneasy whenever her eyes landed on Art whom was running along with her, (more specifically ahead of her), and equally exhausted as her. Well, because after Art used his long coat as an escape tool-he threw it onto the armed men who wanted to capture them, especially her, Kurapika, whom was added to their target list abruptly after learning that she was a Kuruta-the agent was now only wearing a sleeveless undershirts which exposed much of his strong biceps and broad shoulders, and those healthy muscles had become more conspicuous as they bath in sweats, which made them look sleek. And this is what made the Kuruta feel uneasy for reason she could not fathom exactly.

Occasionally, Kurapika would endeavour not to look straight ahead, because she might betray herself by accidentally stealing few glances at Art, who was, of course, oblivious about it, and who was persistently and continuously maintaining his pace as he swayed those sturdy limbs.

Besides those aforementioned, Kurapika also noticed, now that Art was no longer wearing his long coat, several tools were now exposed dangling at the small of the agent's back-a fairly small grapnel gun, a real gun, which could have been a Glock9, and Behind Art's right thigh was a switchblade shove within a strap.

_This bastard was quite prepared for all of these_, the Kuruta said thoughtfully in annoyance.

"How exactly are we going to get away from here?" Kurapika yelled the question, loud enough so Art could hear her from behind as they continue on the run, _"Safely?"_

"I got a motorboat!" Art yelled back breathlessly. "In the basement, and we got (*coughs)," Art take a short look at his wrist watch with an expression as if he had swallowed a fly, "Shit! Less than 3 minutes to get there _safely_."

"How are we going to get there within less than 3 minutes? (*coughs)," Kurapika asked again, she was beginning to cough between puffs as well.

"I know a shortcut." Art replied, he was beginning to get a annoyed with the questions, "And we really need to get out of here now 'coz our body's beginning to get affected by the methane gas _for real_," and he gave out several raucous coughs, so loud that he had to cover his mouth with his hand clenched.

Finally, Art and Kurapika broke through a door that led into the parking garage of the building which was almost empty of vehicles. They continued to scurry until they bumped into a rusty hand railing which secured an aperture of deep free-fall to the lowest floor of the building. From the bottommost, Art could see the dancing streaks of illumination of seawater reflected all around that floor, and almost along the railings and columns of the floor above it. The seawater was unseen from the upper floors but it could easily predict that there was a great body of water somewhere along there. Art was relieved because he was now sure that they had found the right shortcut.

"We're here!" Art exclaimed.

"What?" Kurapika lurched beside the agent, poked her head over the railing, and looked down.

"Down there…," Art pointed down, "…is our escape route."

Suddenly, they heard riffles pointed at them from behind. Art and Kurapika froze in their position.

* * *

An armed man was constantly and desperately firing his rifle at the huge creature in front of him as he screamed in utmost terror. He already lost a leg and he was bleeding awfully. Eventually, he ran out of ammunition and nothing was heard from his firearm anymore but a couple of clicks. Hopelessness worsened on his pathetic countenance as the huge creature moved nearer to him. Its warm breath steamed, and it almost reached above his head, blowing some strands of his hair. Although it was futile, he still attempted to crawl away from the creature as he cried for his dear life. He crawled over piles of bloody and mutilated corpses of his fellow armed men. His hands trampled on pieces of human flesh and blood clots scattered over the floor that as he headed towards a vaulted door ahead of him; his hand desperately trying to reach it. The creature's roar thundered all over the room which almost made the metallic dividers shudder. Then, as the creature's bellow blended with his victim's agonizing shriek, a large amount of blood splashed all over the vaulted door, painting almost the whole of it with the red warm liquid. Then the shriek disappeared in seconds, and replaced by the sound of flesh being torn apart. It was then that the blood-bathed vaulted door opened up and revealed Merula who was standing there. Despite the extremely vile sight exposed before her eyes, she still maintained her usual composure and stoic countenance. Perhaps because she was used to this and that she had create the same scenery herself a number of times.

Merula looked down at the hideous creature gnawing on the guts of its last victim. The victim itself was already lifeless; its head hanging backwards while the dead eyes stared blankly at Merula and its mouth gaping wide-indicating the intense agony it had suffered. The said creature revealed to be the size of a bull, with damp and hairless skin like that of an earthworm. Its head attached to its neck which seemed to have swollen and had turned bulky, had only several dispersed strands of hair. Its shoulders had overgrown with a couple of seemingly bones of shoulder blades which stretched the thin skin and towered at both side of the spinal cord. The spinal cord itself appeared to be about to rip out of the skin as it curved upwards. The front limbs seemed to have turned bulky and awkwardly extended as well, and both had cumbersomely long fingers with conspicuous knuckles like that of a frog. The hind limbs looked like that of an animal but the fingers at their ends were obviously of human feet with an extra finger on each side which made them appeared the hind legs of a monkey-only hairless, damp, and bulky.

Finally, the creature lifted its head with bloody mouth and looked straight at the girl in black in front of it. The lower part of the creature's face was almost skinless that it revealed the hole of its skull's nose and its jaw, though there were still thin layers of muscles enveloping the said part of the skull. The skin on the upper part of the face only covered the forehead and the part surrounding the eyes. The eyes themselves had sunk deep into the sockets giving the whole face a horrifying image of a skull.

Then the creature tilted its head as it continue to stare at the girl in black silently. Beady eyes and mismatched eyes were staring back at each other within several seconds until the creature broke the silence by giving out an ear-piercing roar.

Merula whipped her sharp thread towards the creature but the target disappeared faster than the speed of the thread itself, which made the thread cut through several heaps of corpses instead, sending pieces of already fresh human meat in the air. Before she could turn her head up to see that the creature had clung itself on the ceiling above her, the creature dropped over Merula and nailed her on the ground with four of its limbs pressed over her back, putting its whole weight on her body. The cylinder containing a single scarlet eye rolled on the floor and away few feet from her. Merula's stoic countenance barely broke as the creature sunk its teeth into her left shoulder.

* * *

"Put your hands in the air!" One of the armed men demanded as he point his rifle at the agent and at the Kuruta whose back still at them.

"And wave them like you just don't care! Hey-!" Art hummed humorously as he literally waved his hands high while turning to face the armed men.

"SHUT UP!" the armed man bit back, silencing the agent, and then he and the rest of the armed men with him aimed their rifles more precisely at them.

"Jerk!" Kurapika grumbled but loud enough for Art to hear it. _Seriously, how could he still fool around in a time like this? _She complained thoughtfully in great annoyance as she, too, turned herself around gradually and warily to face the armed men, her hands raised in shoulder level.

"Mr. Art, throw all your weapons away!" an armed man demanded again.

"I don't have any weapons in my hands," Art quipped as he pointed his eyes from his one empty hand to the other. He even wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

"Do it now! Or else-"

"Or else what? You'll shoot us? Feh!" Art scoffed, "You know you can't do that! (caughs) You're all gonna die, too! Methane gas is all over here, mind you."

Art and Kurapika could see that the armed men were getting more exasperated for being unable to use their firearms.

"No!" One of the armen men continued, "We're not going to fell for that trick again. Hand us over the Kuruta or we'll shoot you both! You have 5 seconds. Five….four…."

The armed men had positioned their selves-aiming at the two targets-ready to press their fingers on the triggers of their firearms as soon as the countdown was over; Art could see that they were serious, and he needed to do something about it, fast!

"Three…two…."

"Okay! Okay! Fine! I give up" Art broke off, he rubbed his nape in exasperation, "I'll hand over this blonde to you _for real _just to end this shit!"

* * *

A slight frown had formed on Merula's face as she tried to stand up from the ground, but failed, as the bull-sized monster sitting on her back kept her nailed on the floor. The said floor under her had turned damp due to the black and red liquid that had escape from the wound on her shoulder, where the teeth of the said creature were still buried deep, and were sinking deeper. It was as if Merula's left shoulder was about to snap off her torso as the creature attempted to gnaw it.

Merula's teeth started to grit as she futilely struggled to free herself from the creatures grasp. She realized it was useless, so she stop struggling and froze still. Her left eye started to glow scarlet.

Abruptly, a long and sharp and seemingly pointed horn sprung up from Merula's left elbow, had wrecked its sleeve, revealing a completely mutated arm of a monster with hardened muscles and bulging veins. Merula didn't waste any second and she instantly stabbed the creature's neck by it. Thus, it released its grasp from Merula's body as it roared thunderously in agony. The creature scooted away from Merula and went on a rampage. It smashed its enormous deformed body against the metallic wall side by side, while cuffing its wounded neck by its unusual claws. Suddenly, the creature calmed down and slowly turned to face back Merula. Merula, on the other hand, had stood up with her whole left arm and shoulder mutated into a monster itself-the other end of the horn in her elbow seemed to have grown out from the side of her arm, which made it look like a scythe attached to her limb. Her countenance, though had returned to its as cold and impassive expression, the atmosphere surrounding her indicated that she was now out for blood.

The creature padded warily towards Merula as the wound in its neck healed and close horribly fast. Apparently, Merula was just standing there facing it, and waiting. There was a short moment of silence as the two glared at each other while the distance closed between them. Gradually, the monster set off into a gallop as it bellowed angrily. Merula bent her body a little, indicating that she was ready to meet what was to come.

In seconds, both Merula and the creature disappeared from the floor leaving a sharp gush of wind indicating that they had jumped in great force and speed. Then there were sharp flashes in the air, so sharp they created incredibly deep scrapes on the metallic walls of the hallway. Such event lasted for 10 seconds creating more damage in the surrounding. Then the next, being played in slow motion, Merula had vaulted from the edge of the ceiling and lunged towards the creature which was lunging towards her as well with mouth wide open and meeting the blade of her mutated limb. Merula's mutated left arm buried into the creature's throat deep, but the creature's mouth closed and buried its teeth into her arm's flesh.

Because the creature's force was greater than Merula's, she dropped on her back as the creature stood over her as it bit harder. The creature attempted to bite off Merula's arm by trying to yank it by its teeth but failed. Merula's jaw hardened-that would be the slightest expression she could show as she held onto this another seemingly tag of war. The creature struggled to wag Merula's arm like a mad dog wagging a stuffed toy in its mouth, but still in no avail. Merula on the other hand was silent while she had set off another change in her body-purple veins began to manifest from her neck and almost spread to her face. The veins continued to crawl and swell all over her mutated limb until to the part of it that was still buried into the creature's mouth. Gradually, the creature stop moving until it was standing completely still, its teeth still buried deep into the flesh of Merula's mutated arm, and its beady eyes just seemed to stare blankly at her.

Then there was dead silence as Merula stared back at the frozen creature over her. In few more seconds, she continued to stare quietly at the creatures beady eyes when suddenly images came flashing in her head in lightning speed. The images came from the creature's memory.

This bull-sized monster used to be a young boy. He was 12 years of age when he was forced to serve as one of the guinea pigs for the experiment. The needles that had jab into his body could have reached a hundred. He was lacerate almost 50 times. He was in agony for months and no one was there to hear his cries….until eventually he turned into this horrible form and was force to be controlled as a weapon.

The flashback ended and Merula had finally pulled her mutated limb free from the creature's mouth as soon as it turned loose. She pushed the creature's body away from her only to make it collapse to the side. Merula stood up groggily and looked over at the creature which was still breathing but breathing heavily. Bulging purple veins had sparsely spread over its body. Its breath steamed from its mouth as it continued to wheeze like a sick or wounded animal waiting for death to finally end its misery.

Merula's normal shoulder was slumped while she continued to watch the creature in such a state until she noticed that liquid was streaming down her left cheek. She touched it with her right good hand covered and gloves, looked at the wetness on her finger, and realized that her left eye, which was still vividly glowing with scarlet colour, was shedding tears for a reason she couldn't fathom.

Then she looked back down at the creature lying limply and pathetically on the floor. Its stomach moving up and down as it continued to wheeze. Finally, Merula got the message, and in one swift swing of her sharp thread, she ended the creature's misery. There were no longer movements from the creature's body; not a slightest sign of life. It was now only a huge piece of dead lump.

Merula had not moved from her position yet. She kept standing there to watch impaasively and coldly, and not caring anymore if her left scarlet eyes kept on crying because she couldn't not understand it either why she could not stop it from shedding tears.

Suddenly, she stooped low, and her impassive expression broke once again. Her face showed so much pain as she leaned her forehead on the floor. Cold sweats started to manifest on her face. Merula turned her eyes on her left arm and saw that the muscle fibres started to shift and swell more. The monstrous part began to spread from her left shoulder as if it was eating her.

Merula fumbled frantically on her pouch at the small of her back with her good hand, and pulled out a small cylinder no longer than 5 inches but no thicker than centimetre containing a bright green liquid. She flicked off its cap revealing a syringe needle and instantly buried it into the flesh of her mutated arm. Her head pulled backwards while catching her breath and squinting her eyes. The scarlet colour of her left eye gradually returned its amethyst hue.

* * *

"Kurapika, I'm sorry but I have to do this," Art told to the Kuruta apologetically. Kurapika saw how sorry Art's face looked like as he told those words to her.

"Are you serious?" she whispered to the agent, not sure if this was one of Art's tricks again or not.

"Yes, I'm serious and I just want you to know that I love my life more than yours," he replied while both of her hands still in the air. He took a short glance at his wrist watch and found out that only 17 seconds left before the implanted bomb explode. Art started the countdown thoughtfully…

17…16…

"But before anything else," Art announced to the armed men, "May I give the Kuruta a proper goodbye? Please?" Art looked at them with pleading eyes.

….13…12….

"Whatever!" answered the leader of the platoon snobbishly, "Just make it quick."

"Okay!" Art replied cheerfully like a child who was so happy to earn permission from his parents. Then he inched closer to Kurapika and faced her. The Kuruta, whose hands still raised on shoulder length felt dejected and betrayed and was now glaring at the agent, who had actually move too close to her that she felt awkward.

…8….7..

"Kurapika," Art said, "Can I give you a hug?"

"What!" The blonde hunter exclaimed, her eyes went wide as they could go.

Despite the blonde's reaction, Art wrapped her strong and muscular arms around Kurapika without warning. Then, the Kuruta felt that the agent had pulled both of their bodies over the steal handrail and flung their selves into a free fall down into the deep and fairly wide gap among the series of staircase below. The armed men were not able to react fast enough when they realized that Art and the Kuruta had escaped again.

Meanwhile, in a certain floor in the upper part of the building, the black cube hidden under the thick leaves of an ornamental plant continued to blink green light…

….3…2…1

…and then the green light turned into red….

KABOOOOOM!

The bomb exploded and sent the whole floor into flame, and the impact caused its glass windows to shatter. The explosion ignited the methane gas sending the fire through vents and into the lower floors. One by one the glass windows shattered starting from the upper to the lower floors sending the shards into the air which stunned hundreds of other armed men who were patrolling outside the building.

The impact, of course, had reached the parking garage in a certain floor of the said structure. The fire exploded behind the armed men who were about to run after Art and Kurapika and thus were sent flailing into the floor instead.

Art saw the impact and the fire above as he fell away from the said floor together with the Kuruta. Kurapika, due to shock, reflexively released a scream but muffled by the noise of the explosion. She had also clung tight into the agent's body without knowing it.

The agent, occasionally a quick thinker, tightened his hold on Kurapika, had pulled out the grapnel gun from the small of his back, fired it and sent the hook grappling into a handrail of one of the floors above. Their fall stopped. Art hold on tight to the hilt of the grapnel gun as its rope supported their weight. Both of him and the blonde hunter swung to and fro like a pendulum in the middle of the gap. Concrete fragments and debris were falling around them as the building constantly shuddered. Then another series of explosion occurred which begun from the floor beneath the floor where they had fallen from, then in the floor beneath it and in the floor beneath it…. and Art knew that soon the floor facing them was about to explode, too, and they need to get down from there before they get toasted in their position.

But as he looked down, the concrete ground was still two and a half floors deep-still too high for them to jump.

"K-Kurapika!" Art called with a harsh voice. He was obviously getting worn-out, and his arms were hurting already as he held both of his and Kurapika's weight while they kept hanging in the mid air through a grapnel gun. The blonde hunter, who had hooked both of her arms around the agent's neck to cling onto him, had lifted her face to look up. Their noses almost brushed into each other as their eyes meet only inches away, and they could almost inhale each other's breath They could also feel the clamminess of each other while their bodies were being pressed together. The blonde hunter on the other hand, seeing the agent's face up-close, could clearly see how damped the agent's face was with sweats. It was that moment, too, that he noticed that Art's eyes were of beautiful pallid colour of sage, and that he actually had a handsome countenance, especially now that he was showing a true serious expression.

"Hold on! We have to jump from here," Art continued, as he brushed the words into Kurapika's face. The Kuruta simply nodded. However, the floor where the grapnel gun's hook was nailed exploded. The rope was cut and Art and Kurapika sent falling again.

BLAG!

* * *

Meanwhile, Merula, who was sitting on the floor with the dead creature lying not far from her, was leaning her back against the hallway's wall, still panting from the pain that had not abated yet; her mutated arm had decreased its monstrosity a bit. Seconds later, she herself heard the explosion, and she knew that one of the bombs had already detonated. She could feel the building shudder, and the place itself where she was, was starting to fall apart.

Finally, her eyes landed on the cylinder containing single a scarlet eye. It was lying few feet away from her. Merula endeavoured to stand up and walk towards it when the place began to shudder even more. When her fingers were just centimetres away from it, the vaulted door behind her flung into the air due to a strong impact, and immediately the whole hallway were engulfed by a raging flame!

…to be continued.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Gawd! Writing this chapter was such a pain in the temple for a couple of reasons:

**First**-the ideas were teeming in my head but I always had the hard times to spare some time writing this, and that the ideas sometimes hover in my head constantly that if I didn't write these they will keep bothering me. DX

**Second**-it's hard to describe the events happening in the same time but in different places. I am more like a visual person. I think it will be more easy describe everything in manga/comic form, not to mention the description of the deformed monster (Gaaaaaahhh!)-but of course I can't draw this in manga form no matter how much I love to since I had priorities and am very, very busy.

Anyway, I am planning to finish the whole fic before another of my project starts on August. I realized that I might not be able to have time to continue writing this ever again if that project starts….ALTHOUGH HOPEFULLY, I could actually finish the whole fic before it….**I'm not making any promises though.**

Apologies if sometimes most of the scenes were focused to my OC's (and notice that Kurapika is the only HxH original character here) and that there are OOCness sometimes but it's inevitable right?

To spoil it a bit to you, this fic's main focus is about Kurapika of course and the scarlet eyes-I invented story telling that 1.) There are more to the scarlet eyes other than its beauty why some Mobs are after them so badly 2.) The history on how the Kuruta Clan got their Scarlet eyes. 3.) There are more stories behind the massacre of the Kuruta Clan and that somehow, Merula's clan was responsible to it as well.-these are what I'm planning to elaborate in the future chapters. I REALLY DO HOPE that I would have the time to write all these in the future. DX

Anyway, you might still find more grammar errors and spelling errors or whatever, really appreciate the corrections since I really don't have enough time to reread this and check it, I'm honestly hoping for your help/assistance thank you.

And moreover I was thinking if I should change its rating into "M" since there are a lot of bloody and gory scenes in this fic….I don't know…maybe later… -_-


	8. Chapter 07: The Escape part 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OC Merula, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language and OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P )

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 07**

**The Escape**

**[ Part 3 ]**

"Uurrgh…" Kurapika heard Art groaned in pain, she opened her eyes and found herself lying on top of the agent who was lying on his back, her face close to his. Her face flushed after realizing such compromising position and immediately, she pulled away from him. The blonde hunter noticed that the agent was lying flat on the floor for too long and was not making any movements, barely turned his head, and still, his eyes were closed. Kurapika decided to check the agent's condition. She wondered if he was still alive.

"Are you okay?" The Kuruta tentatively asked Art, while he poked his shoulder with a finger.

"He…vy." Art puffed.

"What?"

"I said, you're heavy! GET OFF ME!"

Kurapika blushed when she realized that she was still sitting on top of Art's stomach and quickly she pulled herself to her feet. "I'm sorry."

"God! When was the last time you took on a diet?" Art complained as he endeavoured to pull his self into sitting position, while groaning in pain.

"Excuse me!" Kurapika exclaimed. Offended, she went on an akimbo and glared down on the agent. Art ignored her and set into himself crouching while rubbing his hip. Debris continued to fall from above as the building shuddered endlessly. Faint explosion could be heard from the distance. Apparently, they ended up in what appeared to be the basement of the building. The place was dark but not dark enough to hide the visibility of the series of thick concrete pillars and the obvious solid dividers that made the entire basement look like a maze.

"God! That hurts!" The agent complained. "Why didn't you use your chain!"

The blonde hunter opened her mouth to say something but it took a few seconds before she could say, "It all happened so fast! I wasn't able to react correctly. Besides...!" Kurapika raised her voice a bit as she gets more exasperated while recalling the recklessness that the agent had done earlier. "It's your fault! That was so reckless-jumping from up there!" The Kuruta pointed a finger upwards.

"Well, got any better ideas to escape from those bozos?" Art replied apathetically as he pulled himself into standing position groggily. Immediately, he started walking away from the Kuruta, while trying hard not to look too pained from the fall. "I'm surprised hearing you complain about recklessness, and you call yourself a hunter and a Nen Specialist?," he whispered sarcastically, but Kurapika heard him. The blonde hunter started walking after the agent. She sped up a little to catch up with the agent's pace.

"It's YOU who dragged me into this you pervert!" The blonde hunter railed.

Art stopped abruptly, turned around and faced the Kuruta. Their faces met almost just a couple of inches away. If Kurapika had not stopped on time, she could have accidentally kissed Art. The agent moved towards the blonde hunter while levelling his eyes on hers, and gave her a cold stare. The Kuruta made wary backward steps as the agent kept advancing towards her. She glared back at him, the kind of glare saying that whatever the agent was planning to do (on her), she was ready to counter it. Suddenly the agent raised a finger close to the Kuruta's face, which made her squint.

"Firstly!" Art snapped at the Kuruta, his breathe almost brushed against the blonde's face. "I just saved your sorry butt back there when you couldn't use your Nen. Secondly..." the agent raised two fingers, "I did all the effort to save the two of us! Thirdly..." he raised three fingers, then he heaved an annoyed sigh, "I almost break my bones...No! I almost DIED protecting you, and then all I got from you is accusing me as a pervert!"

There was an awkward silence.

"You know..." Art added, "If I hear more of these from you, I might actually turn into a pervert if that's what it takes to shut you up."

Kurapika darted a sharp glare at the agent while gaping wide. Then she gave out a long sigh, her countenance had the sign of defeat from the argument. She felt guilty about what the agent said.

"You could have told me this plan of yours earlier!" The Kuruta said finally in softer voice.

"I don't think you'll cooperate," Art answered bitterly.

"You don't trust me?" The Kuruta replied, raising a questioning eyebrow.

The agent gave her a brief, cold glance, turned away from Kurapika and continued to walk away from her. The blonde hunter was compelled to trail behind him, "Well, you don't trust me either." Art replied, while he kept his eyes ahead of him and tracing the right way to wherever they should be going, "And I don't expect you to say 'okay' all the time I explain to you my plans and….besides, we don't have the time for explanations! I don't have any other choice but to…uh…well, drag you along with me."

Their conversation was disrupted by another great explosion that occurred in the upper part of the building, enough to set off the two into running. Debris and concrete fragments started falling around them as they rushed through several winding tunnels. Finally, they reached the dead end of the tunnel, which turned out to be a wide hollow with a pool of stagnant seawater. Beside the concrete sidewalk, at the edge of the pool, parked a motorboat-Art's motorboat. The agent ran towards it, the Kuruta followed behind him. Art hopped onto it and immediately opened the lid of the bench at the back of the boat; Kurapika stayed on the sidewalk though and just watched him. There were a couple of armalites inside the box and two syringes containing bright green liquid strapped within a case with transparent lid.

Art rummaged deep into the box and pulled out a leather jacket, and immediately he put it on. He stood up. He pulled out the Glock9 gun from the small of his back, he checked its ammunition, and satisfied that it was fully loaded. He then shoved it back into his belt at his side. The agent climbed back to the pavement and out of the boat while ignoring the Kuruta as he walked past her.

"Now what?" Kurapika exclaimed impatiently.

Art craned over his shoulder and looked at the Kuruta with a sour face, "Merula's not here yet."

"And?"

"I'll go looked for her. You stay there. Until we come back," Then Art started walking away.

"But what if you didn't come back?" Kurapika yelled at him, loud enough for Art to hear it as he gets farther from her.

"We have to come back," the agent yelled back at her as he disappeared into the dark tunnel, "Or else we're all dead!"

"How sure are you that I'm just going to stay here and not escape?"

Kurapika heard the agent's chuckle echoed from the darkness.

"What makes you think you can actually escape from here on your own?" Art replied, then the sound of his footstep gradually faded away.

Kurapika looked around. The building continued to shudder. Debris and concrete fragments of the building kept on falling to the ground. The seawater turned restless as objects with various sizes drop into the pool, and it created rifles and waves. It made the motorboat dance as it floats on the water. The blonde hunter looked around more and it dawned on her that it was indeed impossible for her to escape from where she was. She could not see any possible exit in the hollow. If ever there was or there were, they must be located at the end of those tunnels that stood in the farther side of the pool. And of course, the only way to get there is through the motorboat, only that she doesn't know how to drive one. And that concluded that she had no choice but to wait for Art to return.

"Damn it!" the Kuruta muttered.

* * *

Art was almost running as he trailed back to where they had been. He had pressed the stone in his earring, and then he started to talk.

"Merula! Where the bloody hell are you! What!"

"Shot..." Merula rasped from the other line. The agent was oblivious that she was walking groggily somewhere else in the building. She was in a dark passageway, which was filled with concrete slabs and fragments that had broken off from the ceilings or from somewhere farther above, and they were almost blocking the passage itself. Merula was relying on the walls to keep her body up as she move. Briefly, she would lean her shoulder against its cold surface to regain some strength, but eventually she could not go on anymore so she squatted at the corner. Her left arm had not fully returned to its normal human form. The ugliness and monstrosity was still there, and Merula continued to endeavour fighting against its own will to re-mutate back, and she knew she was starting to loose.

Art frowned, "Are you okay?"

"I need ...another 'shot' ... ," Merula promted weakly, "of the Belladonna. I've run out of supply." She was already bathing in sweat. Fragments and debris kept on falling around her. In not so distant, another pillar collapsed; dust and smoke practically hazed everything in sight. Merula coughed heavily and the agent heard everything.

Art's expression turned from anxious to grim upon realizing something, "Merula, don't tell me you-"

"I have mutated a bit. I encountered a homunculus... One 'shot' of the Belladonna was not enough to turn me back," Merula rasped. "And now I can't move."

"Shit!" Art exclaimed, while running his hand through his hair irately. He strode back and forth frantically while thinking carefully of what to do, and then he stopped and heaved a long sigh. "Damn it Merula! You should be grateful I'm such a paranoid I stored a couple of syringes in my boat. In what floor do you think you are in?"

"I think...I'm already in the basement." Merula answered softly, "I could have made it to where you are, but I just...couldn't go on anymore."

"Okay." Art was relieved that searching for Merula would not have to require going up to the upper floors, because honestly, he had no idea how to get back up there. "Wait for us, we'll find you."

"'We'?" Merula exclaimed suspiciously. She knew the agent was going to take the Kuruta with him in search for her.

"Kurapika's Nen will help me to find you easier," Art explained.

"Don't you dare!" Merula objected; her voice was firm, "I will not let the likes of her see me in this state!"

Art's eyes rolled, and then he started to run back to where Kurapika was. "You and your pride will just make things harder to deal with."

"ART!" Merula snarled, but the agent had already turned off the receiver. She knew Art was going to oppose her, and she could not stop him now. She got no choice but to wait.

Art was sweating and huffing as he ran back to where the Kuruta was. Kurapika started asking questions but he ignored her for a while and went straight to the boat. He pulled out the two syringes containing bright green liquids and then jumped back into the pavement.

"Come with me!" Art demanded to Kurapika as he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her along with him in several steps. His grip was so tight and hard that even the blonde hunter resisted, she was not able to free herself from the agent's clutch so easily.

"Now what?" Kurapika complained.

The agent stopped dragging her, faced her, pulled the Kuruta closer to him and gave her a laser-like glare. Kurapika almost cringed. It was the first time she saw Art looking so intimidating and livid.

"Listen! I want you to use your Nen to search Merula, and I want you to do it fast! I will take 'no' for an answer." Art ordered her.

The Kuruta gulped nervously before she answered, "I...I need something that came from her of belong to her in order to track her down."

The agent frowned, pulled away from her and released her from his clutch. He then started to scratch the back of his head irately.

"Is there any other option besides that?" Art complained, "Like tracking her aura or something! You've fought her, right? So maybe you'd sort'a memorize her aura and you could track her by it."

Kurapika's lips twisted. Her eyes rolled in annoyance. Her patience was obviously wearing thin with this man, but she did not have any other choice. She could not get out from there without his help. And to make things easier, she had to cooperate.

"Fine. I'll try." She said finally.

After a couple of minutes only, as Kurapika and Art went were running through the maze-like passages of the basement, the Kuruta's dowsing chain finally sensed something.

"I think she's close by." Kurapika announced.

"Great! Now take us to where exactly she is."

They made several more turns, and then finally, they saw someone 10 meters from the corner where they had taken another turn. Only the back of her right shoulder was poking out from the opening of the junction as she slumped against a wall, but it was indeed Merula. When Kurapika began to advance towards that direction, Art raised his arm in front of her.

"Stay here and wait for us." Art demanded. Kurapika wanted to ask a question but she had chosen to remain silent, and waited. She watched Art walked towards Merula.

"Stop right there! Don't come any closer!" Merula announced.

"Merula, it's me."

"I know."

". . . . . ."

"Just hand over the syringe to me."

"I got two of them here."

"I only need one."

"Okay." Art bent down and put a syringe on the ground. "Here you go." He then cast the syringe by his foot, and it skated towards Merula. Merula caught it by her right good hand, which was still covered in black leather glove. Then, Art waited.

"You two go on ahead. I'll catch up." Merula said finally.

"Are you kidding me?" Art protested.

"Just go!" Merula prompted, and Art did not have a choice but to obey.

Art ran towards Kurapika and gently pushed her shoulder indicating they have to go.

"What about her?" the Kuruta asked.

"She'll catch up she said," Art replied with a disappointed expression.

Within less than 3 minutes, the two managed to return to where the motorboat was. Art craned behind and watched the opening of the tunnel where they had been. No Merula seemed to be trailing behind them; it seemed no one else was going to come out from there at all.

"Wait here!" Art announced to Kurapika, while he started to walk back warily to the tunnel.

"WHAT! Not again!" Kurapika railed, but the agent was not listening. He was already running and was so close to the mouth of the tunnel when the building shook terribly, to the point that large blocks of concrete started falling in great amount. Art turned and looked back at the Kuruta and saw that the solid girder was about to collapse over her. However, she was oblivious to it.

"Kurapika! Watch out!" Art yelled but his voice was muffled by the noise created by the falling objects and from the rambling of the quake. He was going to run back towards Kurapika to save her but it seemed he was going to be too late. The girder above her gave in. Kurapika looked up but it was too late for her to move out from her position; a large concrete slab was dropping fast straight towards her. In those split seconds, she still managed to conclude to herself-that this must be the end of her.

The solid blocks were just 3 feet above Kurapika when numerous sharp flashes shone through them and those large blocks suddenly reduced into small fragments. The Kuruta was showered by debris and dust. Small pieces of solid fragments bounced over her, but fortunately, she was quick enough to shield her head with her arms. Art, who was sprinting towards her, put into a halt. Then his mouth gaped open and his eyes widened. Merula abruptly landed between him and Kurapika. Her entire left arm was back to its humane form. It was bared from a torn sleeve. Also, a large portion of her clavicle was exposed.

Kurapika slowly stood straight. Debris and dust slid off from her. She craned over her shoulder and found Merula standing 2 meters from her back. She had reeled back the sharp thread to her ring until the end of the thread containing a metal pendulum, attached to the ring at her right hand. Then her mismatched eyes met Kurapika's, giving the Kuruta a cold and impassive stare.

"Wew! God...that was...!" Art exclaimed while lifting both hands in the air with open palms. He was not able to complete the sentence. Instead, he muttered curses.

"Art." Merula interrupted the agent from his tantrums.

"WHAT!" Art barked at her, while darting a sharp glare like a kid reluctant to obey orders.

"Give me your jacket."

Art looked reluctant but he gave it to her otherwise. Merula put it on immediately. Kurapika on the other hand, was sweeping the dust and fragments all over her. Then, she looked at Merula who was about to climb down to the boat. She noticed something glimmering from Merula. It was dancing on her chest. It was a pendant hanging in a necklace. Then, the Kuruta's eyes went wide upon recognizing it.

"What is that you're wearing?" asked Kurapika while she moved warily closer to Merula, who stopped and stood at the edge of the sidewalk to face her. "The one on your neck?"

"What? You mean this?" Merula lifted the pendant so Kurapika could see it more clearly. "This diamond prism which was given only to royal bloods of Kuruta Tribe? And there are only four of them being given to those who are closely related to the Kuruta King, or to his sons, right? Quite identical to the one you wear on your ear, isn't it?" Merula sounded almost mocking but her impassive countenance did not change.

"Tell me! Who are you exactly?" Kurapika demanded frantically as she advanced closer to Merula but Art suddenly popped in front of her and blocked her way.

"You shouldn't go too near to her, Kurapika," Art told the blonde hunter in a soft voice. They did not mind the constant shuddering of the building, or the continuous shower of falling concrete blocks.

"But how did she get the stone!" Kurapika prompted at Art, she was close to crying. Merula on the other hand, boarded on the motorboat and settled beside the driver seat while ignoring the Kuruta's outburst. "How did she know-!"

"Just get into the boat Kurapika, we don't have much time!" Art told Kurapika. The hunter suddenly fell quiet as she stared back at his face. The agent could see that the Kuruta struggled to hold back her tears. Eventually, she obeyed him and went into the boat quietly. However, it was obvious that she was going to break down anytime soon.

The agent untied the rope of the motorboat from a pillar. He then hopped into the boat himself and settled into the driver's seat. Seconds later, the boat's engine started humming and the boat began to move. It was then that another great explosion occurred from the upper floors of the building. The piers of the basement began to collapse one by one, as well as the ceiling.

"Fuck!" Art exclaimed as he frantically set off the motorboat into full speed, "Hold on you two, this is going to be a nasty ride!"

However, after the boat had not even advanced yet for no more than 10 meters, Art noticed something. There was a flare at the other end of the tunnel behind them.

"Shit! Hold on tight!" Art added, and the motorboat dashed over the water in great speed. If Kurapika had not gripped onto something she could have been thrown out into the water. The boat moved so fast, it produced large splashes of water on both sides, as if it was cutting the water surface along its path and leaving a long wake behind it. Abruptly, the fire erupted from the tunnel. It spread quickly and consumed everything in its path. The flare was scrambling so fast that it was already trailing behind the motorboat, and practically just inches away from it. Art steered the wheel and the boat swerved to the left. Far ahead, there was a beacon of light-it was the exit.

The boat was just 12 meters away from the outlet when several piles of concrete slabs collapsed in front of them and blocked their path. Art yelled some curses as he swerved the boat to another direction. The boat almost hit those blocks but fortunately, it did not. Eventually, the boat continued to speed on the water, and was still being pursued by the spreading fire. Finally, Art saw another escape route but the exit was being blocked by a steel roller. He increased the speed of the boat even more. One of his hands detached from the steering wheel, while the other gripped onto it more tightly. Carefully, his free hand fumbled on the small of his back, pulled out a Glock9 gun, and aimed at the switch beside the rollers ahead.

Art fired three times and fortunately, he managed to hit the switch. The rollers moved up and provided an opening for them. However, the fire was almost touching the rear part of their boat. The passengers could feel the sizzling temperature near them. Art put the gun down and gripped both of his hands onto the steering wheel. His face looked resolute. Then, an evil grin flourished on his lips.

"Hold on to your panties!" Art exclaimed, and with a higher speed, the boat sped up through the exit to the point that it was almost leaping into the air. The fire was almost at them but in seconds, they were in the sea and was leaving the burning hollow.

"WOOOOOHOOOOO!" Art screamed cheerfully. He raised a fist into the air as he continued to drive the motorboat. The ocean wind was brushing against the motorboat itself and to its passengers. Kurapika craned behind warily, and saw the whole building collapse and consumed by the fire as they sped away from it.

"What...the...HELL!" She exclaimed incredulously.

"I know right? Ain't that a bitch?" Art laughed.

Art relaxed on his seat. He looked at Merula on his side and saw her looking as impassive as usual, as if her previous misfortune minutes ago did not even occur. She was just there sitting quietly and watching the Ocean ahead of them. Kurapika on the other hand was slumping at the back seat. She still looked shock; it seemed that she could not still digest everything that had just occurred.

"So, did you get what you were searching for?" Art asked Merula.

Merula only gave a nod as a reply.

...to be continued...

* * *

_**Author's Note**__: First of all, I would like to thank Soggey for helping me with the grammar. Although this whole chapter was not actually edited/revised, but I'm grateful to him for his help, really ;)._

_Anyway,I would never forget this chapter! The motorboat part gave me and Soggey a major migrane, to be honest XD LOL. I endeavoured to write this whole chapter only within two days. I took the weekends to finish this (the Saturday and Sunday which were supposedly my rest days), since I would not be able to write another chapter for a long time 'coz I'm still working on a project. I just ventured into writing this since so far, I was able to keep up with my quota in my project so :P_

_You might find more grammar and spelling errors here, but I hope you still understand the story anyway. And ANYWAY...:D My OC, Merula was taking a big role in my current manga project. Yeah. Although her role was a bit different there of course! XD. And she is a "he" there. You might want to check out my Deviantart page to see some of "his" sketches if you are curious (and some hint about my manga project as well :P)_


	9. Chapter 08: Red Water

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) blood and gore.

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 8:**

**Red Water**

"Got something to say, princess?" Art announced, smirking, while occasionally glancing at the glaring, but obviously tired, red eyes of the Kuruta framed in the rearview mirror in front of him.

"Where are you taking me?" Kurapika answered almost forebodingly, as she continued to glare through the mirror. She would also look at the reflection of Merula who was apparently busy at something the Kuruta could not tell exactly what, due to the limited visibility the rearview mirror provided her. That was because Kurapika sat at the backseat of the motorboat, and she decided not to look over the seats in front of her, maybe because her body was too tired to do so. She felt that if she pushed herself further on using Nen to revitalize herself, her body would earn a terminal damage and she could not afford that to happen yet. Finally, the blonde hunter saw gauze whipping at the side of Merula's seat. The black-haired girl was wrapping her ungloved left hand with it. She wrapped it from between her elbows and wrist, and to each of her fingers. She did not allow a bit of exposed skin. She made sure though, that, despite the heavy bandage, she can still bend her fingers comfortably.

"We're taking you somewhere…somewhere…" Art trailed off. He could not decide the right word to finish the sentence.

"Somewhere WHAT?" The Kuruta barked. Her tone indicated that she was quite uptight, obviously from all the crap that happened back in Boracay. And was quite annoyed that she could not do something right there, right now, and that she was stuck with a notorious female criminal, and with an annoying, nervy ex-agent who claimed her as their hostage.

Kurapika saw Art rolled his eyes through the rearview mirror.

"I don't know…somewhere 'safe' perhaps," the agent said.

The blonde hunter raised her head almost facing the sky, closed her eyes tight and dropped her upper body over the entire seat beneath her. Her blonde fringe almost covered her eyes.

Then Art and Merula started to hear muffled (sarcastic) giggles behind them, then, the giggles faded.

"You thought you can convince me that you decided to be my bodyguard now?" Kurapika said sarcastically as she stayed laying on the backseat.

"No," Art replied flatly, "We're just trying to take you as far away as possible from my former boss and his men."

"But your former boss is dead. I saw….," Kurapika hesitated a bit, "Merula killed him. And I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"I'm not talking about my dead former boss. I'm actually talking about my dead former boss' boss and his men. And NO, we do not intend to be your bodyguard, and NO, we don't think you could take care of yourself now from them. I bet the organization had already sent hundreds of men to hunt you down, especially that they already know you're the last living Kuruta alive. And they will stop at nothing unless they are all dead. And NO, you don't know how important it is to keep you away from them. And YES, you shouldn't underestimate those who are hunting us down."

"Us?" Kurapika frowned.

"Me? Not really much but it's inevitable. I'd say they are after you and Merula here actually," Art pointed a thumb at the black-haired girl on his right, who just finished tying the knot of the bandage on her left hand, and did not give a damn about the conversation, "You and her are in the similar situation now. Isn't that sweet?"

Kurapika pulled herself into sitting position, but did not bother to sweep the blonde fringe blocking half of her face. She let the wind do that for her, as the motorboat continued to accelerate on the sea. She looked annoyed. This time though her eyes were back to their cerulean color.

"And what do you expect me do? Cooperate with a…," Kurapika's eyes to the side as she hesitantly said the last word, "criminal? Run away together with her? With the two of you?"

Merula did not even bat her eyelashes hearing it. She was obviously not affected by what the Kuruta addressed her. She just watched the ocean waves from the distance while she leaned her chin over her gloved hand. Her expression looked apathetic as usual.

Art let one firm hand maneuvered the steering wheel of the motorboat, and ventured into half turning his body, and leaning his elbow over the back of his seat and looked at the blonde hunter eye to eye but with less interest.

"Why don't you lay down there, relax or maybe doze off until we reach our destination?" Art recommended.

Kurapika shook her head, bent down and pressed her forehead against her palms, then straightened her back again and looked back at Art. She looked more annoyed, or rather, she looked pissed.

"Relax? How can I relax after a scarlet eye was left back there," the Kuruta extended one arm at the back of the motorboat, and pointed a finger. Her voice sounded obviously angry and disappointed, "and burnt with the building you just blew up!" She bent down her torso again and pressed her face against her face. Her blonde locks falling over and fully covered her angry countenance. Her last sentence was muffled under them, "I failed…"

"Hmmm…Oh! That scarlet eye?" Art announced, "You mean this?" Art pulled something covered in cloth beside him. The fabric slipped off from it and revealed a transparent glass cylinder containing a scarlet eye.

In split seconds, the blonde hunter, as if she gained a new energy, abruptly lunged towards to grab it but the agent's hand was fast enough to hold the cylinder out of her reach. Persistently, Kurapika continued to pursue the cylinder with both hands and perhaps she did not notice that her body was already hanging over Art's carelessly while demanding the agent to give the cylinder to her. The agent did not heed though. Their arms collided and fought over the cylinder until Art put the cylinder at the side of the motorboat and over the seawater passing along to it, threatening to drop it. Both the agent and Kurapika froze.

"Don't you dare!" The blonde hunter spat while her eyes, which were flickering red color, were fixed at the cylinder.

"Try me," Art taunted, grinning. Despite the conflict, he still managed one hand stayed on the steering wheel of the motorboat and had it maneuvered.

When the Kuruta cast down her eyes, it was only then that she realized that she was in a compromising position with the agent. She was practically leaning over him that she could feel Art's body heat along with hers. Red color started invading Kurapika's cheeks. She gasped, and then quickly pulled away from him. Merula, on the other hand, cast a short apathetic glance over the two and immediately returned her attention to the ocean. Still did not care.

"Give it to me! You have no right-", Kurapika was cut off when Art suddenly reached out the cylinder next to her face.

"Here," Art sighed, he was tired of the recent game and had given up already. The Kuruta took the cylinder with both hands carefully and sat back. She heaved a deep sigh, "Why are you so work up about it, it could be fake you know."

Kurapika's eyes widened. A chill ran down her spine, "Fake?" her trembling lips muttered. And then she recalled the time when she was still in York City and managed to win a pair of scarlet eyes from the auction, only to find out that those eyes were fake, and so she left them to Senritsu to handle them to her boss. She had never been so hopeless and sad that evening. The same time when she thought she lost her goal after learning that the Spiders are dead, only to find out that their dead bodies are fake, and she learned that one of the said phantom group had such ability to clone everything quite identically from the original. It scared her that the one she was holding now was one of those fakes.

"Or one of the clones," Merula added. Her eyes were shut, while her chin still rest on her gloved right hand. The ring with the pendulum in one of her fingers, shone with its metallic luster, it reflected light of the sun that continued to rise in the sky. It was almost afternoon.

"Clone?" Art frowned as he continued to drive the motorboat and would occasionally cast a glance at Merula who did not look back at him. Her bandaged left hand rested over her belly, "You think the organization cloned the eyes?" Art heaved a disappointed sigh, "If you knew that it was a clone, then why did you bother getting it?"

"I want you to examine it. Find out if it gives out the same _effect_," Merula answered flatly, not even making a slight stir. Kurapika noticed that she was being cast out from the conversation.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded, "What 'effect'?"

"Oh…okay," Art replied to Merula, not paying attention to Kurapika.

"HEY!" Kurapika snapped.

Art gave the blonde hunter a short glance, then returned his eyes in front immediately and carefully scanned the trail ahead of them through the windshield of the boat, "You barely had enough sleep, had you, princess? Why don't you doze off for a while?"

"NO. I'm asking you a question and I demand an answer now!"

Kurapika heard Merula made a sound. Maybe she was irritated with her already, too. But the blonde hunter did not care.

Then the agent started to muffle his chuckle but the Kuruta heard it otherwise which made her eyes roll, "Still as stubborn as ever eh?" Art relaxed on his seat, "You know…you remind me of someone."

Kurapika scowled, "Are you trying to change the subject?"

"Yes," Art, this time avoided eye contact with the Kurapika through the rear view mirror, as if he was shy of something, "I said you remind me of someone," Art raised his voice a bit more louder for the blonde hunter to hear it more clearly.

"Oh yeah?" Kurapika scoffed, crossing her arms in her middle and looked away.

"Yes. You remind me of my wife," Art said.

Kurapika did not know why she felt surprised hearing this. She felt a little hurt even, and she did not know why. And she did not know either why suddenly it was so hard to breathe and before she knew it, she expressed the word, "Oh." The 'oh' that almost sounded surprised….and disappointed. Then slowly, and she did not know why it dawned on her ever so slowly the realization that of course Art was married. Judging by his looks, he could be in his mid 30s. And damn she hated this-this sudden irrational awkward feeling that flourished within her. She felt uncomfortable suddenly that she could not speak anymore, and then she contemplated why she suddenly said 'oh'. Then, she started to get confuse that she did not notice she forgot immediately that she was demanding an answer to her question.

Awkward silence befell them afterwards and the agent noticed this. Art looked at the Kuruta who suddenly fell silent and seemed to be suddenly lost in her own world, and at Merula whose eyes were closed and seemed to be bored or asleep. Then a smile flourished on Art's face.

The agent opened a box in the middle of the motorboat's dashboard. He pulled out a CD and pressed it through the mouth of the player above the box. Then, the musical intro of the song boomed abruptly enough to wake up the two females in the motorboat. Then Art began to sing along the first line of the song with great enthusiasm:

_This ain't a song for the broken-hearted_ ….

Merula opened her eyes, turned her head, and stared at Art firmly; her chin still remained resting on her palm though. Her expression still impassive but anyone could tell there was a bit of change in there.

_No silent prayer for the faith-departed_

Kurapika, on the other hand, stared with eyes wide open at the agent in front her, lips parted. He was moving his head in rhythm with the song and it stunned her that he had a surprisingly nice voice that fitted the song perfectly.

_I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd_

_You're gonna hear my voice_

_When I shout it out loud…_

_It's my life _

_It's now or never _

_I ain't gonna live forever…._

And he sung well, too, that it sounded like it was the agent who is actually the singer of the song. Art, however, did not give a damn with the reactions given by the people who were with him, and continued to enjoy what he was doing.

Then finally, the song reached the bridge and Art took the chance to speak to Merula, who was now resting her head at the back of her seat, almost slumping.

"Hey Merula!" Art called, "You know the song right? Sing along with me!"

Kurapika raised an eyebrow upon hearing it And then, her eyes went even wider when another voice, a not so energetic and flat one, seemed to have joined Art's. _Oh my god!_ The Kuruta could have exclaimed, but her lips failed to say it and remained gaping instead. She could not believe what was happening. Everything became more awkward!

_Better stand tall when they're calling you out_

_Don't bend, don't break, baby, don't back down… _

_It's my life_

_And it's now or never _

_'Cause I ain't gonna live forever _

_I just want to live while I'm alive _

_(It's my life) _

_My heart is like an open highway _

_Like Frankie said _

_I did it my way _

_I just want to live while I'm alive…_

Suddenly Merula stopped singing along and her eyes narrowed. Something is wrong.

"Come on!" Art insisted, "Tired already? Finish the song with me. Come on, Merula!" And so the agent continued singing.

"Art," Merula called, but the agent did not seem to hear her, or perhaps the loud sound of music muffled her voice. She repeated calling Art a couple of times but he was too busy swaying his head, until finally, Merula barked louder, "ART!"

"WHAT?" The agent retorted, displeased that he was interrupted.

"We have been followed."

BANG!

"Oh SHIT!" Art exclaimed as the windshield in front of him cracked and gained a hole. He craned over the back of his seat with terrified expression and saw some motorboats more or less a hundred meters behind from them and heading towards their direction. Also, two helicopters are approaching them fast! "Oh men!"

Kurapika immediately hid the cylinder under the seat. Then more bullets pelted at the motorboat, which made all three of them stoop lower. The windshield of their boat received more holes and cracks that it was almost impossible to see through it. Art accelerated the motorboat in maximum speed, although it seemed not enough.

"Fuck! Now what?" Art yelled at nothing in particular, "Of course, who am I kidding. Got no choice but to fight back! Any good tactics there Miss Black Riding Hood?"

"Slow down the boat a bit," was Merula's reply.

"Huh? Are you kidding me!"

"And you dared ask?"

"Fine! You said it. You're the boss!"

The agent slowed down the speed of the boat and let the enemies' motorboats catch up with them. Art poked his head at the side of his seat and called Kurapika's attention.

"Psst! Hey princess! Stay low not until I told you that you can get up." Art told her.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it. No more questions."

The enemies' motorboat started circling them then. They noticed that the people in the motorboat could not be seen anymore.

"Show your selves and give up!" One of the enemies demanded using a loud speaker. No one was answering.

Of course, they knew that they just might be hiding under the seats. So they decided to drive their boats nearer. They circled around it and decreased the circumference between them. Three enemies' motorboats out of 7 were closer now while their rifles aimed at their target at the center. They were planning to catch them alive.

Then there was a _woosh _and three men in two of the enemies' motorboats were cleaved into two literally. Blood showered those who were near them, and painting the boat red. The rest of the armed men saw Merula in mid air above the motorboat (where Art and Merula were) and was excellently maneuvering her pendulum. They started firing at her direction with terrified expression. 7 or 10 bullets buried into Merula's flesh but that did not seem to affect her nor slow her down. Moreover, no blood seemed to be seeping from her body. Then Merula whipped her pendulum towards them in great speed and the sharp thread cut all the remaining men in the three motorboats into pieces. The thread was so sharp that it even penetrated through the motorboats themselves. The bodies that dropped into the ocean made the water red; pieces of human meat sunk deep below. Merula then landed at the front deck of the motorboat on her feet. The impact made the boat rock terribly. Then, Merula collapsed in fours and trembled. Art poked his head over the glass panel of the boat and saw her.

"Merula, are you okay?"

"Go!" was Merula's reply while her head was cast down. Her black locks were almost hiding her face. But the tone of her voice sounded bad. She was panting and seemed enduring something.

"Go? Ah! Right!" It took a couple of seconds before Art realized what 'go!' means-to drive the motorboat in great speed and escape, and so he did. At least the number of their enemies was reduced bit.

"Are you alright?" Art repeated to Merula, who had shifted into crouching position and had regained composure already. Incredibly, she was able to maintain her position on the deck despite the boat's rush movement. However, 7 motorboats and 2 helicopters were still chasing them.

"Turn around!" Merula ordered.

"What?" Art exclaimed incredulously on top of his lungs, his voice was loud enough for Merula to hear through the strong blast of wind.

"I said TURN AROUND! I need to get to one of those choppers!"

Art craned behind and saw the helicopters and the motorboats persistently pursuing them. The choppers were flying above the motorboats. It dawned on the agent, _how was he going to make Merula get into one of those choppers?_ It did not take long before he formed an idea.

"Give me a sec!" Art announced to Merula and let go of the steering wheel. He strode to the backside of the boat and opened the top of the backseat. Kurapika did not wait for Art to tell him to get up. She crouched and peeked over the back deck of the boat and saw the enemies in pursuit. Then she watched Art pulling out several heavy firearms from the box under the seat-a couple armalites and few grenades. The Kuruta blanch upon seeing the explosives.

"Princess, go to the driver's seat please," Art said almost in urbanely tone, but of course, it sounded more sarcastic.

"I'll help!" Kurapika exclaimed demandingly.

"Of course you'll help. Now go to the driver's seat!"

The Kuruta hopped unto Merula's seat.

"Not there." Art said irately, "The other one!"

Kurapika obeyed, frowning and slouched into the driver's seat, in front of the stirring wheel. She hoped that she got the wrong clue of what Art was about to make her do. Unfortunately, she was right.

"You're not planning to make me drive the boat, right?" The Kuruta asked tensely.

"Yes, you are going to drive the motorboat, princess," the agent answered as he put a fully-loaded magazine into the handgun and shifted its barrel with a couple of _clicks_. He bent down over the back of driver's seat and said to the Kuruta, "And when you think you found yourself at risk, if you know what I mean, use this," Art reached out the handgun to Kurapika. The blonde hunter hesitated before taking it.

"But…but I've never driven a motorboat before! _(Or maybe I have, but it was a ship, without people chasing and firing guns at us)_" Kurapika complained at the agent who was already aiming one of his armalites at the enemies behind them.

"I know!" Art replied, "Now DRIVE!"

Kurapika cursed silently as she reluctantly grabbed the steering wheel. Come to think of it, _it was do or die_!

Then, Art began firing the armalite like there was no tomorrow.

"AAAAAHHHH! Take this you bastards!" Art screamed.

He managed to shoot 5 people but then the rest of them fired back! The agent ducked and stooped low to protect himself from the bullets that were pelting and boring holes all over the boat. Kurapika, fortunately was cautious and careful enough to be able dodge them. Merula, on the other hand, did the same.

"Merula! This is bad! If this keeps up we're going to sink!" Art exclaimed.

"I told you to turn the boat back and head to their direction right?" Merula retorted, "Do it NOW!"

"I know!" The agent replied, "I'm just trying to lessen the possible hassle on whatever hell you are planning to do," Then he started firing consecutively back at the enemy again, "If you know what I mean."

Art managed to clean off the men in two of the enemies' motorboat.

"Okay then!" Art pulled away his armalite and hid behind the back seat of the motorboat, out of the enemies' sight, "Princess, you heard the boss. Turned the boat and drive towards the enemies' direction."

"Are you INSANE!" Kurapika screamed.

"YES, we ARE! But you can trust us, honest. Now DO IT!" Art pressed.

The blonde hunter had no choice, since the agent said she had to trust him, them. But she already had gone through so much where she was compelled to trust these people. So why not _now_?

Kurapika steered the steering wheel in practically 360 degrees and the boat turned and accelerate towards the enemies' direction. She kept her head as low as possible to avoid meeting the bullets from the enemies. So technically, she was not watching where the boat was going but she was quite sure that before she ducked, she had steered the boat to where she was told. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw the agent with a disappointed look.

"Move over!" The agent demanded and Kurapika did. She settled to the seat next to him while Art took over the steering wheel again, and then she saw Merula. She was standing boldly at the front deck of the motorboat. But her knees bent as if preparing for something. Obviously, she was going to do something reckless. Kurapika then felt a little jealous, and realized that she had run away long enough from the fight and decided to fight the enemy face to face. Art noticed the chains flourished on Kurapika's hand.

"Don't even think about it, princess!" The agent warned.

"I'm going to help her!"

"NO! You'll just get in the way. You'll ruined the plan! Better just brace yourself for the upcoming impact! Hold on tight to anything so that you won't fling off the boat."

"Wha…what do you mean?"

"Quit asking questions and JUST DO IT!"

Merula was then swinging her arms in almost impossible speed that her arm's movements were barely visible. The thread of the pendulum manage to cut some upcoming bullets towards her, but still few of them managed to hit her body. Apparently, Merula did not mind them. Then the distance between their boats got closer and closer. Art held onto the steering wheel firmly. Their boat drove over the water in great speed and in straight course towards one of the enemies' boats-they were going to crash into each other. Actually that was Art's intention in the first place. He planned to crash into one of the enemies' boats, the one that was under a chopper. And due to a very important reason, the agent hoped so much that this tactic of his works.

And the next thing that happened, Art's motorboat was flying several feet above the sea water after crashing over another boat. And as the agent's boat managed to get more or less 5 meters beneath one of the choppers, Merula jumped with great force as great as her legs can afford, and her hand managed to reach and grabbed onto the chopper's skids. Before one of its armed passengers was able to point his gun at her, Merula caught him by the leg and pulled him off the chopper and he dropped into the ocean. Then, Merula hopped into the cabin of the aircraft and gave the rest of passengers, including the pilot, a bloody kick each, and eventually kicked them all off the chopper. Merula then took over the choppers joysticks. She then started firing its machine guns at the remaining enemies beneath, and took down the remaining four groups.

"Wooohooo! You go Merula!" Art cheered as he continued to drive the motorboat under the chopper that Merula was piloting. Fortunately, the agent managed his own boat to stay afloat on sea after the crash. It was too late before Art noticed though, that there was still one remaining enemy's motorboat and it was right behind them.

"Oh fuck!" The agent exclaimed when he saw the said enemies aimed a bazooka at them. It seemed they have no choice but to kill them in the end, and then perhaps look for their bodies afterwards. Catching them alive was not an option anymore since they were so hard to get.

Quickly, Art pulled Kurapika by the arm then jumped into the water with her, before the missile hit their boat and blew it up into burning pieces.

The remaining boat then circled around the part where the agent and the Kuruta dove, the men on those boats aimed their rifles at the water as they waited for the two to surface.

Merula saw it, and stirred the chopper to aim at the said enemy's boat. She forgot something though. There was another chopper that was already aiming to shoot its own machine gun at her direction, precisely pointing at the side of the other chopper's body.

Of course, the chopper Merula was piloting was not as quickly as her own body to steer and control to avoid the upcoming bullets, and she knew it. Therefore, before the other chopper fired its weapon and bored holes all over it, Merula jumped off from chopper. As she went into a free fall, as if the time slowed down, she managed to steer her body in mid air to face the enemy's chopper above. Then her left arm made one quick swing and the sharp thread cut the enemy's chopper in half before Merula jackknifed into the water. Then the enemy's chopper exploded. Its burning metal chips and pieces dropped and sunk into the ocean.

* * *

Kurapika managed to surface first and clung onto a floating body of a boat, which was turned upside down. She looked around for Art but no sign of the agent yet. She was oblivious of the enemy who was aiming gun at her from a distance though. Then Art finally surfaced more or less 25 feet away from the Kuruta. He noticed the man on said motorboat aiming his gun at Kurapika.

"Kurapika! Look out!" The agent screamed at her, but on the time the blonde hunter turned her head, the enemy fired his rifle. Fortunately, it was not a real gun but a stunned gun, and a needle dug into the flesh of Kurapika's biceps instead of a bullet. The poison took effect quickly on the Kuruta and she lost her grip from the boat. She sunk into the deep water again. The agent took a deep breath and dove under. Art saw Kurapika sunk continuously into the deep and quickly he swam towards her.

* * *

The enemy on the boat, who held the stun gun watched the water for a while before finally deciding to get a diving suit to search for his victim's body. He hoped that he could still catch the Kuruta alive, the reward is higher on the living captive after all. The moment the said man turned around, a bullet went through his forehead. Then his body dropped dead beside the lifeless bodies of the others who were bathing in their own blood. Corpses lay next to Merula's feet on the boat's deck. Seawater was dripping from her drenched body and hair. Merula then threw the gun away and started cleaning off the corpses from the boat.

* * *

Kurapika was barely conscious as she continued to sink lower into the deep of the ocean. She could see through his half-opened eyes that she was getting farther and farther away from the bright surface of the seawater, and she could not save her self. Perhaps, she thought, this was her end. Then a shadow fell upon her. It was Art. The agent shook her. He was trying to wake her up, but the poison was too strong that she could barely move. Then she felt the agent's warm hands cupped her face and pulled closer to his. And then, Kurapika felt his lips pressed against hers.

…to be continued.

**Author's Note:**

* * *

Ohgawd! To be honest, I've written this fic in just one night and yes I got major migraine! As usual I beg you to forgive about my grammar errors, spelling etc…I will appreciate it if you just give corrections. I really don't have enough time to check proofread this ^^' I can't afford to spend 2 consecutive days writing fanfiction due to my working schedule. It was merciless I tell you! *sigh* (I'm so bush T.T) And to be honest I couldn't think of any good title for this chapter. I don't know if **Red Water** suits this.

Anyway, the lyrics of the song in this fic is **Bon Jovi**'s **"It's My Life**" just in case any of you is still not familiar with it. I really love that song, even though it's a bit old. And no, of course not, I don't own the song. ^^  
And yes, Art is married ^^'. It's necessary for the story anyway. Quite necessary indeed. But there is still a good news in the future (don't worry;) ;P. And I hope you don't mind if I pair female Kurapika with my male OC. ^^ Hope you enjoy this. *wink*


	10. Chapter 09: Tempest

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ). Some erotic scenes (or maybe not that explicit :P)

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 09:**

**Tempest**

_She found herself walking in the middle of a barren land. There were very few clusters of dried grass planted dispersedly in there. The wind blew wildly against her and against anything that was not attached solidly into the ground. The dust in the wind almost covered her all over and hurt her eyes. She was not sure where she was nor why she was in there, but her instinct told her to keep walking._

_She squinted and rubbed her eyes. She noticed something from a distance in front of her. She could not make it out exactly because the visibility only provided her a silhouette of it. Then she continued to walk, and headed towards it._

_When she got there, what appeared before her was a nameless grave made of stones laid over each other. The earth and dusts almost erased the original colors of the stones and practically buried them into the sandy ground. Then she saw a tiny glimmer among those stones. There was a necklace hooked on them and its small diamond pendant was dancing along the wild gust of the dusty wind._

_When she was moving her hand towards that pendant to touch it, a hand covered with burns and wounds rose from the base of the grave and grabbed her wrist….._

* * *

Kurapika awoke with a raucous gasp and eyes wide open burning with scarlet color. She started to pant. She felt herself bathing in cold sweat and burning with fever. She travelled her eyes around and found herself lying over layers of coconut leaves weaved neatly into improvised mats topped on one another to provide comfort despite the rough and hard earth beneath them. She was inside a cave with a bonfire burning enthusiastically 5 feet away from her.

Kurapika endeavored to pull herself into sitting position, oblivious that she was only wearing her undershirt and her outer clothes served as her blanket, and it slid off her as she got up.

"Are you okay?" Art announced as he suddenly appeared in front of Kurapika; his face just foot away from hers. Without waiting for an answer, the agent pressed his palm against Kurapika's forehead to measure her temperature and it made him draw his face closer to the blonde hunter, to the point that they could inhale each other's breath. It took several seconds before the Kuruta reacted to the situation. She remembered that time when Art kissed her underwater; she gasped, her eyes went wide, and her cheeks burned red like tomato. Abruptly and spontaneously, the blonde hunter slapped the agent's hand off her. Then she crawled backwards and away from him until her back pressed against the wall of the cave. Her untrusting eyes fixed on the bewildered agent.

"Er…Are you still having a nightmare?" Art asked Kurapika, but the Kuruta only gave him a frown, "You were asleep for 8 hours straight. You were burning like hell, and you were groaning constantly in your sleep."

There was a short silence. Then Art's puzzled expression melted into that of a naughty grin when something dawned on him, "Or…..could it be….that you were having a wet dream?"

Kurapika's fist suddenly appeared from nowhere and rammed against Art's cheek that made the agent kissed the ground literally and practically eat some dusts. The Kuruta, on the other hand had stood up behind him with a trembling fist and a flushed angry face.

"How DARE YOU throw such dirty accusation on me YOU PERVERT!" Kurapika roared, her eyes burning in red hue. But seconds later she collapsed on her knees as the fever quickly took over her again.

Art slowly turned around with a hand caressing his swollen cheek. He was close to crying.

"You aggressive woman!" Art whimpered like a hurt puppy, "Just so you know, that was just an assumption. You're the one who was groaning in sleep for 8 straight hours and you call me a pervert-Gawd that hurts!" The agent saw Kurapika crawled back and sat down on the mat and leaned her back against the wall of the cave, panting, and ignoring his explanation. Art continued whining his sentiments otherwise, "And this is what I got for looking over you while you cozily snore the whole day." _You ungrateful bitch! _Art added thoughtfully.

Kurapika rubbed her arms to warm herself some more. She felt like hell and she hated this. She could barely lift her head to keep her eyes on her surrounding. Finally, she cought site of a glass cylinder leaning against the cave wall along to her side not far away. The glass was burnt, but not broken. It was hard to see through it since the glass was darkened and hazed. The blonde hunter remembered that their boat exploded and burned back when they were still on the sea and were escaping from the people who were after them. She had no idea how Merula or Art retrieved the object though.

Then Kurapika cast down her eyes and travelled them slowly towards herself. That was the time when she finally realized she was only wearing her undershirt, and thank God her pants are still on but still…

Kurapika's eyes grew wide again upon realizing something.

"YOU!" The blonde hunter growled at the agent with an accusing glare, while she wrapped her arms around her self protectively.

"What?" Art exclaimed, confused.

"Are you the one who took off my clothes?" Kurapika interrogated, her glare was sharper.

"Y-yes…I..did," Art replied hesitantly and still confused.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"

"What? What are you…Oh!" Finally it dawned on Art what the Kuruta meant, "Hell NO! Of course not! You are so wrong of what you are thinking. I did nothing to you, honest. And BESIDES, with that flat chest of yours, you think you have the chance to get laid?"

Abruptly, a hard thing bounced against the agent's head that made him drop on his back painfully on the ground. He tried to get up but another one came flying towards him but fortunately, he was able to doge it.

"Stop it! Ow! I said…Ow! STOP!" Art pleaded but hard things were kept throwing at him. He was able to dodge few of them but eventually, the last two got him square. He was loosing his patience, "Ikaw, sumusobra ka na! (You, you're overdoing it already!)," The agent darted Kurapika a serious glare as he raised his hand at her to indicate to stop, but it was not working, "Ano ba! Alam mo ayaw ko sanang pumatol sa babae eh pero… (What the! You know I don't like hurting girls but I'm gonna…)"

"What's going on here?" Finally, Merula arrived, drenched from venturing outside the cave where a storm was occurring. She dropped three leafy branches of Kambibon (Sambong) on Art's lap, and dropped a couple of coconut fruits to his side, "Prepare the tea and have her drink it."

"Alam mo, sa tingin ko hindi na naman nya kailangang uminom ng gamot eh (You know what, I don't think she even need to drink this medicine). Tingnan mo nga kung ano ginawa nya sa akin! (I mean look at what she did to me!) Ganyan ba may sakit? (You think a sick person can do this?)" Art complained as he pointed his swollen cheek. He got some bruises, too.

"Gusto mong bang buhatin sya hanggang sa makarating tayo sa inyo? (Do you want to carry her all the way to your place?), "Merula replied, "Alam mong ayaw kong bumagal tayo dahil sa kanya (You know I don't want us to be slowed down by her) Kung tutuusin nahuli na tayo ng isang buong araw dahil sa kanya (In fact, we've been slowed down for a whole day already because of her) Tingin ko, ikaw naman may kasalanan kaya ganyan sinapit mo (I take it, it's your fault why you ended up like that anyway)."

Art shook his head irately and disapprovingly, his eyes rolled.

"Ano ito? Kinakampihan mo ba siya? (What's this? Are you siding with her?)" Art retorted, "Sino bang may idea na isama sya? Di ba ikaw! (Whose idea was it to take her along with us? It was yours, wasn't it?) Hindi na ako nagtataka, magakamag-anak kasi kayo (This doesn't surprise me though, you two are related anyway)"

"Ikaw kaya ang humiling sa akin na buhayin siya!(You're the one who asked me to spare her life!)," Merula's tone had a hint of anger.

"Pero kung alam ko lang na isa siyang Kuruta noong una pa lang, hindi ko sana nagawa yun! (But if I've known that she was a Kuruta in the first place, I wouldn't have done it)."

"Just make the tea, Art," Merula ordered as she retreated from the argument. She dropped her leather jacket (Art's former jacket), together with the fruits she harvested from the nearby forest, on the ground at the based of the cave wall opposite to Kurapika who was quiet and puzzled by the recent conversation occurred in a language she could not comprehend. Her eyes were back into their cerulean color.

Merula sat beside the heaps of fruits and threw a piece of ripe mango fruit to Kurapika without looking at her straight in the eye. Kurapika caught the mango with a trembling hand. Kurapika noticed that Merula had no plan of helping herself with the fruit she brought along with her. Perhaps she was not hungry, the Kuruta thought. Merula just leaned her back against the wall of the cave and stared at the bonfire. Her left hand was still covered in gauze while the other was gloved.

Kurapika started peeling off the skin of the mango fruit, but then she looked back at Merula who was now baring her clavicle and the necklace with the diamond pendant over her wet black undershirt. The pendant that was identical to the stone in her earring.

"How did you-"

"Don't start." Merula replied before Kurapika could even finish the question without looking at her, "Just eat."

"Th…Thank you," The blonde hunter said barely in a whisper, and decided not to argue since she was too weak to do so anyway. She started to the eat mango, which turned out to be pleasantly sweet.

Suddenly, Merula stood up and picked up her jacket nestling the remaining fruits and dropped those fruits to Kurapika's side then immediately walked away.

"Where are you going?" Art asked as he looked up at Merula.

"I'm going to scan the area. Going to make sure we are not being followed again," she answered as she put the leather jacket back on, "I'll come back when the storm is over and is safe to travel again."

Art and Kurapika watched Merula vanished into the darkness outside the cave.

* * *

Half an hour later….

"What is it?" asked Kurapika who had already put back her Mandarin shirts on.. Her shirt was used to be white, but it became a little filthy due the past events that occurred.

"It's a tea, a medicinal tea. It will cure your fever," the agent replied as he reached out the greenish translucent liquid in the coconut shell, while crouching in front of the blonde hunter, "Don't worry, it's not poison." Art took a gulp from it to prove what he said, but a frown flourished on Kurapika's face.

"It is NOW," the Kuruta teased. Art's face foreboded anger after hearing what she said though. He looked like that of the incredible Hulk trying to restrain his temper.

"Do you want to get spanked?" the agent warned.

The Kuruta failed to hide her grin. She did not expect that her teasing would be that effective on the agent. She took the coconut shell gratefully and drank what was all in there.

"Tastes odd, but not bad," Kurapika complimented.

"Of course!" Art said approvingly as he took a fruit besides Kurapika and ate it himself, "There's a coconut water in it, so it doesn't taste that bad." Then he sat besides her, leaning his back against the wall of the cave, too, while finishing the whole fruit.

There was a moment of silence for almost 5 minutes, until Kurapika broke it.

"What happened when I was unconscious?" the Kuruta asked.

Art recalled what happened and narrated it to the blonde hunter from the time after their bloody encounter in the middle of the sea. He remembered swimming to the surface of the water with Kurapika unconscious on his arms. Merula was able to take over one of the enemy's boats and they used it to continue on their travel. He also recalled Merula ventured to fumble her hand underneath the burning seat of their former boat, which was fortunately still afloat. though burning, to get the cylinder containing a single scarlet eye. Then they continued to travel the sea until they got to the island where they were now.

The agent also recalled carrying the unconscious Kuruta on her shoulder as they walk from the boat and into the shore. Before Merula get off from the boat, she fired bullets all over it and let the seawater poured in. Later, they watched the boat sail away on its own from them and later it sunk deep in the middle of the sea. It just happened that, when they were hiking into the forest, a storm hit the area, so they were compelled to stop on their track and take refuge until the storm wears off. Fortunately, it did not take long for them to find the cave.

"And so here we are stuck in here." Art threw away the seed of the third mango fruit that he ate as he finished the story.

Kurapika thought, he did not mention about the _kiss_.

"Art, what did you do to me when I was sinking in the water?" Kurapika was blushing when she asked the question. She was looked away to avoid eye contact with the agent. Art looked at her puzzled though.

"Duh! I saved your life! Oh that reminds me!" Art exclaimed in exasperation, "I didn't even get a thank you from you! Instead, I got THIS!" the agent pointed his swollen cheek.

"Sorry." Kurapika said apologetically, although in her mind, he deserved it.

"Sorry? You ruined my handsome face and then you're saying you're 'sorry'? Are you fucking kidding me!"

"Will you quit the profanity!" The Kuruta snapped. She did not want to venture into argument with Art but he was just pissing her off with his tongue.

"I'm so gonna fucking do what I want 'coz I fucking can!

"Oh really! Like what?" Kurapika bit back. She could not back out from this argument anymore, "Going with Merula to kill people?"

Abruptly, the agent pushed Kurapika and pinned her to the ground; his hands nailed both of her hands above her head. His face hovered above hers just centimeters away.

"You don't understand anything, princess," Art said ominously. Kurapika noticed something had suddenly changed on the agent, and she did not like it. She could see something in his eyes. It was pure rage trying to come out, "Of course you don't understand because you don't know anything. Did you even know the real reason why people are after the Kuruta eyes? No. It was not just because of their mere beauty. The reason was far more dreadful than that. Did you even know who hired the Spiders to kill your people just because of a mere grudge?"

Kurapika was stunned hearing about this. Someone hired the Spiders to kill his people ? But she put that aside. What was more important at that moment was to break free from Art's grasp. It surprised her though that she could not do it. She could not use her Nen!

"Let go of me!" Kurapika barked.

"What's the matter, princess? Can't break free from me?" the agent taunted as he looked down at the blonde hunter with an evil grin and cold glare, "You think someone like me can't perform a basic Nen?"

Kurapika was shocked. Why did it not occur to her before if Art could use Nen or not? Of course, he could! He was a hunter agent after all! How come he could not do it? It was part of everything related to a hunting job. _Damn it!_ Kurapika exclaimed thoughtfully as she gritted her teeth. Her eyes burned in red color again as he glared back sharply at the agent. The blonde hunter concluded that Art could have sent Zetsu all over her body when she was caught off guard and without noticing it. Now she could not use her Nen, nor exert strength to any of her body parts. She was in big trouble. She hoped that Art was not planning to do anything on her; that he was just merely intimidating her and nothing more. But she was wrong.

"What else do you know about the massacre of my tribe?" Kurapika demanded.

"Oh! What's the use of knowing it," Art replied coldly, "If you're going to die anyway?"

Kurapika wiggled underneath Art, but it was no use. She could not break free from him still, and Art was practically leaning over her, pressing his body against hers, pinning her down even more.

"I don't know why Merula is taking so long to finish you off but dispatching you was in the original plan the moment we learned that you are a Kuruta," Art continued, "But maybe after Merula got what she needs from you, she'll put you down eventually. So why don't I make you useful for myself before that happens?" The agent pulled a switchblade that had been strapped and hidden at the back of his right thigh since they arrived in Boracay. The light coming from the bonfire reflected on it and bounced over Kurapika's face.

Fear started to overwhelm Kurapika and she hated it, especially that she could not do something about it. She was struggling not to cry but a single tear managed to escape from her eye, and she tried to hide it by turning her face to the side and let the blonde locks hid half of her face and cover the humiliation.

"Please…..don't…." she whispered, she almost choked on the words. The agent heard her but ignored her plea. Then Art ripped open the Kuruta's shirt with his blade.

"NOOOOO! STOP!" Kurapika screamed as the agent begun to nuzzle her neck, while his free hand crawled upwards on her torso while the other kept both of her hands pinned over her head and against the ground. The blonde hunter's feet were kicking spasmodically at Art's sides in vain.

"Stop it!" demanded urgently by a different voice, but Art pay no attention to it and continued to do what he was doing. He was about to lowered his head on the Kuruta's chest when the voice boomed louder.

"I said STOP IT!" and Art was booted to his side. He rolled several feet away from Kurapika. The agent looked up and saw Merula glaring coldly on him.

"Have you lost your mind, Art?" Merula dropped her black leather jacket on Kurapika who curled up in a ball while trembling horribly. The jacket covered her head and torso as Merula walked past her and towards the agent who was wincing because of the pain on his sides. She stood in front of the agent in an akimbo and looked down on him with an impassive expression, "What's got into you?"

Before the agent could give an answer, Merula felt something coming. Immediately she bent her body, and extended an arm to catch Kurapika's fist, which was supposed to strike Art's face. The Kuruta's fist trembled in utmost rage within Merula's clutch just inches away from the agent's terrified countenance. If that punch touches him, his face could have been smashed terribly. Art froze in his position. He could feel the blonde hunter's overwhelming aura and fury. A pair of angry red eyes glowered down at him.

"Calm down, Kurapika," Merula prompted, then she heard some clunking sound, and it immediately occured to her that the Kuruta had began to use her Hatsu.

"Art, RUN!" Merula ordered. The agent obeyed immediately and ran past to their side to escape while his hand was cupping his injured side. But Kurapika's blood-shot eyes were fixed on him and immediately, she stirred to draw her dowsing chain towards him. Fortunately, Merula was quick enough to catch Kurapika's right hand and prevent its movement. The blonde hunter turned to face her and flung her other fist to her face but Merula caught it as well by her other hand. She clutched both of Kurapika's hands tightly, raised them up and spun under them and pinned the Kuruta's arms to her back. But one of Kurapika's hands was able to break free from her. Merula, however was able to think of something quickly. Before the blonde hunter could make another move, Merula grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her to the ground and pinned her there while her other hand pulled one of the blonde hunter's arm, forcing it to stretch upwards on her back. Merula's strength was enough to match her own even if her Nen powered it. Kurapika could not get up.

"I said, CALM DOWN!," Merula insisted. The restraining technique she used on Kurapika was so effective that even if she was using her Nen in full power, the blonde hunter could not fight against it. Then, the Kuruta realized she could still move her legs freely. Kurapika kicked Merula's leg and was able to break free from her. The Kuruta ran after the agent but Merula suddenly appeared from above several feet in front of her. Kurapika immediately flung her dowsing chain towards her, but Merula suddenly disappeared which surprisingly distracted the Kuruta and left the blonde hunter puzzled temporarily. Merula reappeared behind her in mid air and sent a silent blow to the blonde hunter's nape using one strong outstretched hand, and immediately, Kurapika dropped on the ground, unconscious.

…to be continued.

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**Author's Note:**

To be honest, I can't believe I wrote some erotic scene in this chapter. *shrug* I'm not good writing that kind of stuff actually. I was blushing. I would occasionally look over behind me to watch out if any of my family members was already standing behind me and reading what I was writing without me noticing it. It was such a struggle. Thankfully, only few of my acquaintance know about this. LOL *laugh nervously* Wew!

Well, as usual, I beg you to forgive some grammar, spelling and tyo-errors. I've done this chapter in just a day, and have no enough time proof reading it. But hope you enjoy it anyway.

**P.S:** I'm not really sure if mixing Sambong with the coconut water is effective. To be honest, I don't even know how Art made the tea without boiling it. Don't try it at home. But if you're curious about the herb, why not make a research about it yourself in Google and learn the facts. ^^


	11. Chapter 10: Turning Point

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P )

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 10:**

**Turning Point**

_"Red is obviously such a stimulating color, and it has so many connotations." _

_-P. J. Harvey_

* * *

"Well, she pissed me off first!" Kurapika heard Art whined as she came to.

"You should have had thought of it first before you acted," Merula replied in the usual apathetic intonation.

"I did, but…." Art trailed off, "Wait a goddamn minute! Why am I being sermonized about it! What's the big deal? She's supposedly our goddamn hostage, not some….some-"

"You're the one who keep calling her princess."

"And you're the one who've gone so soft on her….which you don't usually do."

"No I'm not being soft on her. Why? How exactly do you expect me to treat her?"

Kurapika finally squinted and saw Art walking exasperatedly back and forth in front of Merula who sat along the wall of the cave, fixing the gauze on her left hand. Art would wince occasionally because of the pain in his sides.

"Sit, why don't you? You're hurting yourself," Merula told the agent.

"You could have just let me do it," Kurapika heard the agent mumbled as he sat next to her just a couple of meters away from her head. She winced as she realized that her hands were tied together, so as her feet. Although, she was thankful that the black leather jacket had put onto her, with its zipper fastened all the way up to cover her torso and her torn shirt. She wriggled and struggled as she lay down on the earthy ground. Then the agent looked down on her. He did not mind a pair of fiery red eyes glaring back at him. Art raised a hand to show that he was holding a vine that was connected to the thing that bound Kurapika's hands firmly together. The Kuruta realized that Art had been holding that vine to send Zetsu through it and to her body to keep her down. Kurapika cursed under her breath as she looked away and laid back down her head to the ground, feeling defeated.

"Why should I have let you done it?" Merula proceeded with the conversation. The agent looked back at her.

"Because! Because….." Art trailed off.

"See? You don't know what you're doing," Merula pointed out, "And it was very unlikely of you to commit such act."

"It is very unlikely of you, too, to take her along with us this long and this far. You even went as far as like …protecting her-"

"I have to. You know very well the situation right? We can't let them have her. Not a single strand of her hair or a tiny drop of her blood. Besides, you did protect her, too."

"It's because I was playing along. And until now, I don't know what your plan about her is!"

There was a short silence.

"Well…." Art prompted, "WHAT IS IT? What's YOUR plan. Why don't you do it right here right NOW?"

"Stop ordering me around." Merula said flatly as she looked up at Art straight into the eyes, "I'll decide when and where to execute my plans."

Art was dumbfounded.

"Don't tell me…." Art said finally, "Balak mo siyang isama sa amin? (You're planning to take her along to my place?)"

Merula nodded.

"You're kidding, right?" Art frowned at her.

Merula shook her head, "Bakit? Di ba dapat maging masaya ka? (Why? Aren't you supposed to be happy?) Di ba gusto mo sya? (You like her don't you?)"

A light flush flourished on the agent's cheek.

"Stop joking around!" Art barked in denial. His face all red.

Merula ignored the agent's tantrums and stood up. She looked out through the mouth of the cave and saw the abundant daylight coming from it. She knew that the storm was over and that it is safe to continue their journey.

"Let's move," Merula announced as she walked towards Kurapika and crouched besides her. She hauled the switchblade from the side of her boots and held it up. Making sure the Kuruta could see it.

"You shall walk," she told her, "You shall not attempt to escape nor attack any of us on the way, or else I'm going to tear off both of your legs. Understand?"

"Why don't you just kill me?" Kurapika spat.

Merula raised her eyebrows, and tilted her head as she looked down at her with the usual impassive countenance.

"Hm? Is that what you want to happen?" Merula asked as if surprised by what the blonde hunter's statement.

"You're going to kill me anyway. The _lecher_ is right," Art flinched upon hearing Kurapika referred him with the term 'lecher', "why don't just get on with it here and now."

Merula looked at Art, who looked away guiltily to avoid eye contact with her. Then she looked back down at the Kuruta.

"My eyes," Kurapika continued scornfully, "That's all you want from me right? You can just poke them out of my sockets and put them on glass cylinders. You must be really enjoying collecting my people's eyes and putting them on display, DON'T YOU, YOU BASTA-? "

"You talk too much trash," Merula cut her off. When Kurapika looked up at her, she saw her left eye lost its original amethyst color and glowed with scarlet color, "I never desire you're peole's eyes. In fact, I utterly DESPISE them together with their owners," Merula's bondage fingers moved over her left scarlet eye, almost threatening to dig it out of her own socket, but her fingers spread over to the left side of her face and pressed hard into the skin and trembled, "Especially my brother who gave this eye to me."

Kurapika's eyes went wide upon hearing what Merula said. Brother, her brother was a Kuruta?

Merula took away her hand from her face and revealed her left eye again which still glowed vividly with scarlet hue.

"This eye," Merula continued, "Is a constant reminder of what your people did to me. I will never forgive them… for taking part on my creation."

"You're brother…." Kurapika stammered as she looked at Merula incredulously, "….is a Kuruta? And he gave that eye to you?"

"Yes. And I have to kill him for that."

Kurapika gasped on this revelation. She could feel the chill as she continued to stare at Merula eye to eye and see those icy, emotionless, mismatched eyes stared back at her.

Kurapika tried hard not to tremble. She could not imagine that there would be a person that will hate his people so much for such a vague reason.

Then, something dawned on the Kuruta and she started to giggle, almost crazily.

"I see!" Kurapika exclaimed among her giggles, "Everything is started to become clear now…..You're the one who hired the Spiders to kill my people, aren't you? As revenge."

"No. I'm not," Merula replied as she cut the vine that bound Kurapika's feet, "Why would I hire someone else if I can kill them myself?" Kurapika froze as she continued to hear what she was saying. The revelation she was hearing at that moment was like icy cold water being poured on her, that even if her feet were already freed, she could not bring herself to move immediately. Art, on the other hand, was terribly quiet in one corner. He seemed to be silently grieving on the situation. Perhaps deep inside, he felt sorry for Kurapika for hearing such things.

Merula folded the switchblade and shoved it to the small of her back. She stood up and turned her back at the Kuruta who was still dumbfounded and apparently, was closed to breaking down, "It was not me who hired the Spiders though," Merula continued. Then she glanced back down at the Kuruta, her left eye returned to its amethyst hue, "It was my grandfather." Then she looked away and started to amble towards the half-burned glass cylinder that contained a single scarlet eye. It was lying along the base of the cave wall. Merula picked it up. The eye inside it is barely visible. Then she walked towards Art and dropped the cylinder on him. The agent caught it with both hands,

"He's dead now though." Merula said as she finally walked away from them.

* * *

Minutes later, Merula, Art, and Kurapika were walking in the woods. Merula was leading the way, behind her was Art, then Kurapika. Kurapika's hands were still tied together by a vine. A leash made up of the same material was connected with it, and Art was holding its other end by his left hand. The glass cylinder with the Kuruta eye was being carried under the agent's right arm. It looked like the agent was dragging a dog with him. But it was not a dog. It was Kurapika. The agent kept on sending Zetsu towards the Kuruta's body through the leash to make sure she could not use her Nen until he and Merula allowed it, and thus, prevent her from attacking them as well.

Art craned over his shoulder and saw the blonde hunter tottered. She was walking in such a manner not because of exhaustion, but most probably because she was out of herself, daydreaming, and she was slowing down. Probably, she still couldn not digest everything that she heard from the cave.

Abruptly, the agent jerked the leashed almost violently. It made the Kuruta lunged unsteadily and almost tripped, but fortunately, she immediately gained balance. This was enough to snap her back to reality.

"What THE HELL!" Kurapika railed at the agent as she jerked back her hands.

"Hurry up will you!" the agent demanded, only to receive a sharp glare from the blonde hunter. He ignored it and continued to walk.

After a half hour of walking and without talking to each other, the agent decided to break the silence finally…

"Hey princess," Art started without looking over at Kurapika as they continued to walk. The agent was not sure if she was even listening or hearing him but he did not care, "Do you know something about Paracelsus?"

There was a moment of silence before the Kuruta answered.

"What about him?" Kurapika answered sarcastically, "He's a _long dead_ alchemist."

"Is that all you know?"

"So what?" Kurapika retorted. Although, in fact, she knew a lot about him. She was a bookworm after all. She loves to read and of course, she had red a lot about him. She was just not in the mood to talk about it with the perverted agent.

"What about the Philosopher's stone? Do you think it exists?"

"Why does it matter now?" the blonde hunter replied, still with sarcasm.

"How about alchemy? Do you believe it exists?" Art continued. His questions, which sounded more like statements.

"What are you trying to pull?" Kurapika grouched while frowning at him. The agent did not even glance at her.

"The human body is an amazing, don't you agree?" The agent begun to talk with elaboration, "It contains 60 chemical elements. Just like what Professor Richard Wool said, our own bodies are extraordinary biological chemical manufacturing systems, where we use our genes to make highly complex molecules. Our bodies can produce anti-bodies as protection from diseases, we have organs to filter the dirt from our blood and discharge them; our brain is one big chemical reaction, and controls everything-our metabolism, perception, body movements, body chemicals, learning, memory, body growth etc…Our genes, on the other hand, decides mostly on what we look like when we grow up-the color of our eyes, hair, skin, the number of our limbs, our sex, mutation…."Art trailed off from the last word. Slowly he stopped walking and turned around to face Kurapika whose expression was like she had seen a person grew another head.

"So, Kurapika?" the agent finally called her by her name, "Do you believe a human body could be so terrifyingly functional to perform Alchemy?"

The blonde hunter looked at the agent with bewilderment. She knew Art was trying to tell something to her though. She just could not make it out exactly. Or could it be that the agent was mad?

"Did it ever come across your mind as to how the Kuruta originated? How you and your tribe's eyes obtain the scarlet color?" Art added.

"Enough!" Kurapika snapped and walked past him, the agent followed behind her. "My tribe's origin and how we got our scarlet eyes are none of your business!" Merula who was ahead of them came to a stopped to watch them.

"Why don't you just admit that you don't know anything about the history of either of them?" Art scoffed, "Your ancestors hid the truth from you!" Abruptly, the blonde hunter turned around, walked back towards the agent and confronted him up close.

"Oh yeah? And what are you trying to brag? That you know everything?" the Kuruta spat at his face, "It's not like you had been to our realm!"

"Yes I HAD!" the agent pressed, "I was there more than three years before and until the massacre of your tribe."

"You're LYING!" Driven by anger, Kurapika attempted to push the agent by her bound hands; but Art caught them and held them up firmly. He pulled the blonde hunter close to him and looked her straight in her glassy, scarlet eyes.

"I'm not lying!" Art protested, "It's you who keeps on running away from the truth!"

"And how can I trust you? You traitor! You trickster! You who lured people to their deaths!" the blonde hunter attempted to free her hands from the agent's clutch but failed, "You are as rotten as Merula! The two of you are no different from those who massacred my tribe. You, who never hesitate to kill people! The smell of blood, I DESPISE IT! It DISGUST ME! So tell me, how could the tow of you just kill people so easily? What do you feel when you go with Black Riding Hood to slaughter people!"

Suddenly, Art's eyes flared with rage. His teeth gritted. He pushed the blonde hunter and her back hit against a tree. He pinned her there as he hold her arms above her head. He glared back at her eye to eye. Their faces were so close to each other that they could inhale each other's breath. Kurapika started to feel nervous. Could it be that the agent will try to touch her again? To violate her? Fortunately, no such thing happened.

"Feel what Kurapika?" Art growled, "Mercy? Forgiveness? Those people in the organization turned my wife into one of their monsters and I had to watch her die in my arms!" As the agent spat his sentiments, he recalled what happened 4 years ago-_He sat on a cold tiled floor with legs spread wide, his shoulder sagged. He was staring down forlornly at the deformed dead body with a long blonde locks lying in front of him. Art's hair was longer. His brown fringed was soaked in blood that had begun to clot_. _He was wearing a white coat, the kind worn by those who work in a laboratory. It was also stained red with blood_. _Under the deformed dead body in front of him was a pool of red liquid expanding as the blood continued to gush from the said corpse. Art slowly looked up to see that a bloodstained blade was being pointed at his forehead. That blade emerged from the flesh of a girl's mutated arms and blood was still dripping from it. The said girl was the four years younger Merula . She had a longer hair that reached down to the back of her thighs. Her left eye was glowing scarlet while the other was as dark as the hematite stone. Both eyes appeared soulless otherwise as she looked down at the pathetic man in front of her. The hospital gown she was wearing used to be white but it had turned crimson because of the blood of those she had killed. Art would never forget that day, when Merula decided to spare his life. _

"Tell me Kurapika, after the massacre of your tribe, what did you do?" the agent continued while the Kuruta remained speechless and stunned, "Did you just forget everything? What will you feel when you met the murderer of your tribe? Will you feel forgiveness towards them? Will you feel mercy? Huh? Don't talk like you haven't killed anyone yet, or have you?"

The agent's last sentence rang painfully in Kurapika's ears. She remembered what she did back in York Shin. She killed Ubogin, who was one of the Spiders who murdered her tribe. Art's reason why he does things revealed to her like a slap in the face. And from that moment she realized their similarity.

Art heaved a deep sigh. He pulled away from the Kuruta and pulled down her arms, then started untying the vine that bound her hands.

"I'm tired of dragging you," Art complained as he ambled away, his countenance was calm and exhausted, "You walk on your own. Besides, you are well aware of what will happen if you try to escape. I know you're smart enough to do the right thing," Art threw the cylinder containing a Kuruta eyes at her and she caught it with both hands, "You carry it," the agent continued to walk then.

Kurapika hesitated for a while. She watched the back of the agent as he went farther away from her. After she heard everything, she felt different. Her views about Art and Merula changed, although there were still few things, she could not understand but it dawned on her, that probably, she would learn them eventually and then understand their goals. However, of course, there might be several things in the future that would probably remain disagreeable about them.

Then Kurapika began to walk. In fact, she ran to catch up with them, only that she maintained a more or less 3 meters distance between her and them.

Kurapika held the cylinder in shoulder level and examined it as she walked.

"Merula?" Art began a conversation with the girl in black as he ran to catch up with her pace until he was walking alongside with her.

"Hm?" was Merula's answer.

"Wag mong sabihing balak mo kupkupin natin siya nang buhay? (Don't tell me, you're planning to keep her alive?)"

"Sinong may sabing kukupkupin natin sya? (Who said we're going to keep her?)"

"So ibig mong sabihin, balak mo talaga syang buhayin? (So that means you're letting her live?")

Kurapika watched the two in confusion as she heard them talk to each other in different language. She did not dare to ask what they were talking about.

"So gusto mo talagang tapusin ko sya, gusto mo ba yun? (So you really want me to finish her? You really want me to do that?)" Merula stared at the agent, "Bakit ka ganyan, hindi ka naman ganyan dati ah. (Why are you being like that? It's so not you,)" Merula replied flatly.

"Hindi naman sa ganun(No, it's not like that) Nagtataka lang ako na hinayaan mo siyang sumama sa atin kahit na matindi ang galit mo sa kanyang tribo, o baka naman, napatawad mo na sila (I'm just surprised that you dragged her along with us alive, despite the fact that you have a grudge on her people, or have you forgiven them?)"

"Never. Kailanman hindi ko sila mapapatawad hanggang sa dumating ang ikalawa kong kamatayan (I will never forgive them until my second last breath.)"

"Kung ganun, anong tunay the rason? (Then what is the real reason?)"

"Revenge." Merula delivered the answer in firm tone but in a low voice to the level that Kurapika could not hear it.

"Revenge eh?" Art squinted and pondered this for a moment. He craned at Kurapika behind them and saw her looked back at him with suspicion, and then he returned his eyes ahead of their path. Suddenly, upon realizing something, he begun to giggle and shook his head, "Just like what you did to me huh?"

Merula did not give an answer.

"Merula, you really ARE a cruel person," Art muttered under his breath as he smiled.

Suddenly, Art's earring started to blink green light. He heard it rang and pressed the stone on it.

"Uncle!" said the energetic female voice coming from the stone; Art was the only one who can hear it though.

"Marj? Is that you?" Art exclaimed incredulously. Somewhere in the same island, a girl was sitting next to a wooden counter of a pub, where her laptop was placed.

"Bingo!" Marj replied cheerfully as she smiled in front of her laptop. Her left hand adjusted the mic on her headphone. The back of her left palm contained a 8-legged spider tattoo.

"How did you….? Are you eavesdropping on us?" the agent asked angrily

"Hmmm….sort of!"

"Why you brat! How dare you! And how did you manage to hack into our communication device?" Art continued heatedly.

"Why Uncle! Are you an idiot? Of course! Duh! I can hack into them because I'm the one who MADE THEM, remember?" Marj chuckled.

A nerve swell on the agent's temple as he endeavored to hold back his temper,

"How dare you call your handsome Uncle an idiot. Do you want to get spanked when I get there?" The agent muttered irately under his breath.

Kurapika did not know what was going on anymore. She watched the agent in perplexity as she saw him smacked his forehead and seemed to be talking to himself. Then the blonde hunter cast down her eyes at the cylinder on her hands. She squinted as she noticed something moved inside the vague, burned glass.

"You CANNOT do it Uncle; I'm just too cute for you!" Marj added teasingly. Art's eyes rolled.

"Why did you call?" Art suddenly brought up.

"I was worried," Marj replied, "A storm just passed by right? Where are you now anyway?"

"We are already in the Island."

"Great!"

Kurapika kept on staring at the cylinder. She could not see exactly through it but she was sure she could see something moving inside it. And of course, the blonde hunter found it odd. A small animal or inset could not have been able to enter inside the cylinder, right?

"Art, tell Marj I wanna speak with her," Merula told the agent.

"I heard that," Marj said and immediately her communication with her Uncle cut off. Merula's left earring blinked. Merula pressed the stone.

"What is it sister?" Marj asked from Merula's earring.

"I just want you to know," Merula replied, "That I lost my pendulum. The thread was cut off."

"WHAAAAAATTTT!" both Art and Marj exclaimed in unison.

"You got to be kidding me!" Marj cried out furiously through the line. Merula raised her right gloved hand to examine the empty case of her metal ring in one of her fingers where the pendulum used to be attached with a sharp thread. "Do you know how hard it is to make one? Damn you Merula! If you want another one, prepare $20,000.00 for it!" Then the line went off. Merula heaved a deep sigh, although her expression did not look that saddened.

"Cut off?" Art exclaimed incredulously with elaboration at Merula, "How the fuck was it cut off! I thought the thread can cut into metals!"

"It was made of organic material, of course it has its limit," Merula explained as she walked past the agent who kept muttering words because of shock and disbelief. After a few steps forwards, Merula stiffened. She suddenly smelled an oddly familiar stench nearby.

She turned her head to see Kurapika opening the cylinder and in every turn of its lid, the stench became stronger. Merula was alarmed by this because she knew that that stench was a sign of impending danger.

"Kurapika, WHAT are you doing!" Merula exclaimed as she ran towards the blonde hunter who looked back at her, bewildered. She had stopped turning the lid but it was closed to opening. Abruptly, the lid of the cylinder burst open and the lid itself was thrown away in great distance as if a very strong pressure escaped from it. It made Kurapika dropped the cylinder and she tripped backwards. The thing that came out from the cylinder was a round thing with tentacles and it was running in great speed towards the Kuruta. There was no time for the blonde hunter to react. The thing with the tentacles leaped from the ground in speed almost invisible to the eye, it stretched its tentacles wide open like an octopus and headed towards Kurapika. Just as it was just a foot away from the blonde hunter's face, the switched blade flew sharply towards it and nailed it into the nearby tree.

"What…." Kurapika stammered as she stared with eyes wide open at the wriggling thing impaled on a tree, "….was…that?" The center, which was impaled by the blade, was a round lump of flesh as big as a fist with a red glassy thing on the center, which looked like the very iris of the scarlet eye it used to be. Attached to the round lump, were some slimy nerve-like tentacles wriggling. Seconds later, the wriggling stopped and the thing turned completely motionless.

…to be continued….

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**Author's Note:  
**Yeah…I guess I was able to update my fanfic weekly this month (I have to suffer the consequences later though ) because the idea came teeming inside my head, and actually, the next sequence of events of this fic are already made inside my head. All I need to do is endeavor to spare some time to type them all down. Moreover, I am really enjoying writing this fic now, despite the low number of reviews. But it's okay. I still enjoy writing this story. This fic is getting closer to the revelation part where Merula's relationship with Kurapika and her people will become clear. Also I might write a hypothetical story on how the scarlet eyes of the Kuruta tribe originated. :P (Hope it works and consistent with Kurapika's background though)

Moreover, I couldn't think of a proper title for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed this though. ;)


	12. Chapter 11: The Deal

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ). And moreover…_**Please note that anything stated here, no matter how much it sounds logical and believable, is still fictional. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. **_

**Note:** I would like to thank all of your reviews. They helped a lot really and sorry if the previous chapters still have grammar and typo errors...I'll keep working on the improvements. Anyway, keep the reviews and corrections coming. ;) Thank you.

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**Chapter 11:**

**The Deal**

"_The eyes are the windows to the soul"-old proverb._

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"What…." Kurapika stammered, "…was that?" Her back brushed against the trunk of a tree as she pulled herself into standing position. She had unconsciously pressed her back against the said tree behind her as she looked at the thing impaled against the other tree in front of her with wide, bewildered red eyes. She stared at that slimy, disgusting thing, which attempted to attack her abruptly just minutes ago.

"A mistake," was Merula reply as she halted from the running. She walked warily towards the impaled thing and examined it with her mismatched eyes, not daring to touch it with her hands. Art, on the other hand, came with few mild pants as he pulled over beside Kurapika and stared at the impaled thing.

"Holy… (*pants*)… shit," he gasped under his breath, "Don't tell me it mutated!"

"It did," Merula said, "It was exposed in the fire after all." The fire Merula was talking about was from explosion in the boat they used, while they were fighting the enemies who pursued them through the sea.

"Crap! You're right!" Art blurted, smacking his forehead in disappointment, "I should have seen this coming. I should have had paid attention to it!"

"That's why I gave it you," Merula pointed out as she picked up the glass cylinder and its lid from the ground, "To watch it until we get to your place. I didn't tell you to give it to her. Anyway, check out Kurapika if she's clean."

Immediately, Art grabbed the blonde hunter by the shoulders and tried to spin her around to examine her. The Kuruta flinched and quickly broke away from the agent's grasp.

"Don't you dare touch me again, you lecher!" Kurapika barked as she glared at Art with burning red eyes.

"I just want to check you if you're not infected," the agent explained, bearing Kurapika's address to him.

"Infected?" the blonde hunter frowned.

"If that thing touches you and infected you, you'll turn into an ugly monster," Art continued, "You saw what happened back in the lab in Boracay, right? (Chapter 03) Same thing will happen to you…or probably worse because you have a pair of genuine Kuruta eyes."

"I….I don't understand…" Kurapika faltered, shaking her head in confusion.

"I know right," Art shrugged as he heaved an indolent sigh, "Now. Do you feel anything different? I mean physically in your body?"

The blonde hunter slowly shook her dismayed head, casting her eyes on the ground and trying to recover from what just happened.

"Well, I guess you're okay," Art declared apathetically. Then, he turned his back on the Kuruta and walked towards Merula who was cautiously pulling away the switchblade from the tree. She held and carefully examined the switchblade with the tentacle-thing still impaled in it.

"Is it dead?" Art asked as he frowned at the thing.

"Probably," Merula answered. She then put the thing back inside the glass cylinder and shut its lid tightly, "I'll go ahead of you and give this to Marj. We can't afford to have another accident because of such recklessness."

"Well soooooorrrryyyy if I was reckless," Art whined, his hands doing some elaboration, "My mind was pretty fucked up recently you see!" He glanced at Kurapika who looked back at him, still dazed. The agent looked away immediately to hide from her the apparent guilt on his face.

"I'll put you in full charge with her then," Merula said as she started to sprint.

"SANDALI! (WAIT!)" The agent called and Merula halted. She saw Art hurrying towards her, "You're putting me in full charge with her? Paano kung magtangka siyang tumakas? (What if she tried to escape?) Hindi na siya nakatali. (She's no longer bound.)"

"Sinong bang nagpakawala sa kanya? (Who unbound her anyway?)" Merula scowled which stunned the agent. He rarely saw an expression on her face, "Sa totoo lang, okay lang sa akin kung bugbugin ka nya (I wouldn't mind if she beat you to death to be honest). May kasalanan ka naman talaga sa kanya (After all, you did something undesirable on her). I think she deserves seeing you bleed."

"How could you say such cruel things? You are so heartless!" Art pretended to cry like a dejected child, "Besides, I've suffered enough when you kicked me and almost broke my ribcage!"

"Aren't you supposed to be grateful to me?" Merula replied with a cold, stoic stare, but her voice sounded sarcastic enough, "Kailangan kong gawin iyon bago mo mpagtaksilan ang iyong sarili (I had to do it before you betrayed yourself.)" Then she leaped into the branches of the trees and disappeared together with the glass cylinder she carried with her.

Merula's latter sentence hit something significant within the agent. It made him remember something, which he seemed to have forgotten. Probably, for several years that he worked with her, she had gotten to know him well enough.

Art, being left alone with the Kuruta, felt awkward and thus refused to take another glance at Kurapika as he proceeded to walk, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go, princess."

Sensing that the blonde hunter was not moving, he was compelled to crane at her. Art saw Kurapika was still frozen and still confused to the level that it seemed she could not decide whether she should go with him or take the chance to escape. Or maybe that was not the real reason at all.

Art walked towards the blonde hunter and stopped at a distance safe enough for him just in case the Kuruta erupted again and reattempted to smash his face. Art realized that it was not practical not to make peace with her since it seemed that the blonde hunter was going to be stuck with him and Merula for a while. The guilt was starting to torment him anyway, so to prevent it from getting worse and to prevent another ruckus to occur between them, he decided put his pride aside for the mean time, and…apologize.

"Kurapika. Look. I really didn't mean to do that to you back when we were in the cave," a faint flush emerged on the agent's cheek while he rubbed the back of his neck, unable to look straight into the blonde hunter's face, "I was probably not in the right state of mind, and a lot of things happened too but….I'm not going to force you to forgive me. That's pretty much understandable anywa-"

"If you want my forgiveness then explain everything to me. All of the things that happened and the things you said I'm not still aware of, especially about our eyes," The agent was startled for a moment when he saw Kurapika looking at him straight eye to eye with resolve. Her eyes were back to their cerulean color although there was still a trace of distrust in her eyes.

Something dawned on the agent. It occurred to him that maybe the Kuruta would not attempt to escape. She had questions needed to be answered, and she could only get those answers from him and Merula. This was his tramped card.

"Hmm…" Art turned his back at Kurapika and proceeded to walk.

"Hey!" Kurapika barked, annoyed for being ignored and eventually, she was forced to walk too, and followed the agent, "I have all the rights to know! Explain everything to me NOW!"

Abruptly, Art stop, turned and faced the blonde hunter. Kurapika almost bumped into him and their faces almost touched. Kurapika saw the agent stared at her close with apathy. This gave her some shivers and made her take a couple of steps backwards.

"Will you stop that!" the blonde hunter railed.

"Stop what?"

"Playing games with me!"

"I'm not playing games with you, or do you want me to?" the agent gave a naughty grin. Kurapika blanched at it. Then, she turned her back and crossed her arms together on her chest, furious for failing to get what she wanted immediately, and silently muttering curses.

"What about we make a deal?" Art said suddenly. Kurapika looked over her shoulder and annoyed to see the agent's confident gestures. She hated it. She knew Art got something up his sleeves. The agent would make some conditions where she might be forced to comply. But she had no other choice, hadn't she?

"Depends on the conditions," Kurapika replied reluctantly as she turned and faced the agent.

"I don't think the conditions wouldn't be too hard for you to agree with actually," Art said as he began to walk again. Kurapika followed him.

"How about going straight to the point," the blonde hunter scowled as she ambled behind the agent in fair distance.

"Relax," the agent smiled at her over his shoulder. The Kuruta rolled her eyes on this, "I will tell you everything you want to know…..IF…." the agent raised a finger, "….if you'll cooperate with us as long as you're with us."

"What sort of cooperation?" Kurapika specified.

"Mainly, if ever enemies attack us again, you'll help us fight them but…there would be instances that we won't let you."

"Huh?" Kurapika raised an eyebrow, utterly confused with the statement.

"And there are other situations that might occur in the future, which I still can't specify right now, where we also require your cooperation," the agent spread his arms in elaboration as he continued to speak with the blonde hunter while walking, "To make it simple, just treat us like your comrades who have the same mission like you-to retrieve the scarlet eyes, especially from the organization."

"So you're saying that my people's eyes are in the possession of the organization you mentioned? But why wouldn't you let me fight in some instances like you said?"

"Actually," the agent answered as he halt for a short while to take a breath, then started walking again, "We are not really sure if the red eyes possessed by the organization are the authentic ones or the ones artificially cloned. When I haven't been busted yet by them that I was doing the inside job, when I was conducting the investigation, I heard…that the organization was able to buy a pair of scarlet eyes from the Nostrads actually," the agent glanced at Kurapika with scrutinizing look, "They're you're former boss, right?"

"Yes! They are….," Kurapika gasped in surprised, knowing that the said organization made a connection to her former employer.

The agent chuckled as he continued, "Well, heard they were going bankrupt that time that they started selling away Mr. Nostrad's daughter's collections of human body parts. They said, the girl lost her psychic ability, which was their main source of income. Poor them! Such fucking disaster ain't it?"

Yes. It was true. Kurapika remembered that time when Mr. Nostrad was sulking in one corner, horribly devastated and depressed about Neon loosing her Nen to predict the future. He was crying his eyes out, begging the blonde hunter to do return his daughter to normal. Unfortunately, she could not. Probably if Kurapika was able to kill the leader of the Phantom group, a miracle might have had happened. But no such thing happened before she was caught up with Art and Merula.

"So then the organization got a pair of scarlet eyes from them but…" Art continued, "…but rumors said that the said pair was fake. It was speculated that one of Spiders who breached the auction did it. One of them had this Nen ability to copied things perfectly identical to the original."

Art, without glancing back at the blonde hunter, was oblivious that Kurapika's eyes were glowing in scarlet color again as he talked about the Phantom group. The Kuruta still could not help feel the rage rising from her whenever she heard about the Spiders who mercilessly killed her people. Kurapika compelled herself to calm down then. She shut her eyes tightly and opened them again to reveal her irises went back to their cerulean color.

The agent chuckled again, "Well, no wonder most of the organization's experiments were fucked up! The monsters they created, if not short-lived, were too berserk to be controlled that some of those who work in the research ended up dead."

"What are you saying? You mean the organization uses the scarlet eyes to create monsters?"

Art shrugged, "They called those monsters homunculi actually. You've read about Paracelsus right? Tell me what you recall about him."

"He's a Swiss alchemist in 16 century," Kurapika replied, "He pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine and-"

"Do you know that Paracelsus believed in the existence of Philosopher's stone?" Art broke off.

"But it's just a myth!" the blonde hunter argued, "It never exists. Paracelsus believed it was just an undiscovered element, but there was no such stone that can rejuvenate or immortalize people or transmutate metals into gold whatsoever in reality! Why are you bringing this up again!"

"Oh really, you think stones like that doesn't exists?" the agent asked as he walk continuously without glancing at Kurapika behind him,"What if there were highly classified evidences telling that they do?" Kurapika did not answer, "What if I tell you that the scarlet eyes of the Kuruta are the predecessor of the Philosopher's stone?" Art sensed that Kurapika stopped on the track. He turned and saw the blonde hunter's shock expression, seconds later; a sneer drew on her face.

"What crap are you talking about?" Kurapika scowled, obviously, she did not believe such statement.

"You know, I used to work in the organization as one of their Geneticist." The agent proceeded, "The organization was actually able to discover pretty old documents pertaining to Paracelsus works and accounts about his experiments. Its content were a bit deviating from those that were published in books and distributed in public. But, it can't be help if such documents were concealed? Such information might drive people to create abomination. You've probably read that Paracelsus used experimentation in learning about the human body, right?"

Art realized that walking and talking at the same time was pretty exhausting so he walked towards a shady tree and to rest and proceeded to talk the rest of what he was going to say there. He leaned his back against the tree trunk, crosses his arms together in his middle and began to continue his explanation, while the cool breeze in the woods blushed against them.

"Books said that Paracelsus gained a reputation for being arrogant, and soon garnered the anger of other physicians in Europe. He was accused that he had publicly burned traditional medical books. So, he was kicked out of the university he used to work in, then wandered in three continents in pursuit of hidden knowledge. He revised old manuscripts and wrote new ones, but had trouble finding publishers," the agent gave Kurapika a meaningful grin, "Happened that some of those unpublished works of his fall in the hands of the organization. Apparently, we can consider that Paracelsus is one of those mad scientists who actually used live human body for his experiments.

"We learned that he experimented on people with unidentified severe disease. He seemed desperate to attain great reputation in medicine. So he tried to create an actual Philosoher's stone out of human body by trying to alter the process of human circulatory system without killing his lab rats. His journal indicated that he bribed 15 homeless people to convince them to let their selves be used in his experiments," Art looked carefully at the blonde hunter and begun using elaborations as he proceeded.

"Kurapika, imagine him doing some sort of reviving-Frankenstein-thing on a living sick person, that kind of thing with electric cables connected to the person's skulls and body, and injecting some chemicals into his blood vessels," the agent saw Kurapika looked away in disgust when she imagine those things.

"Actually, apparently," Art rubbed his nape with a hand, then, he looked at his hand as if wondering if he caught something. He turned his hand down after seeing that there were only sweats in there, "Paracelsus was just aiming to find out if his newly invented method of curing disease was effective, if only madness had not gotten into him. He believed that human body was capable of producing the said undiscovered element. He compared the process to the formation of a child inside the woman's womb. And so, he believed that injecting several elements into the human body and trying to control the brain and the circulatory system of a living being, will make him succeed on what he was trying to gain. And yes, his lab rats suffered extremely. Few died actually. But some have survived."

Art decided that it was time to move on again so he pulled away from the tree and started walking again. The blonde followed as usual, compelled to listen attentively to the agent's narration.

"After a couple of months, Paracelsus noticed changes on those survivors he kept in his secret lab," the agent continued, "They grew strong and healthy and the disease they had had abated. However, he also noticed that the melanin in their bodies started to fade. According to his journal, Paracelsus was not sure if the lost of their body tint was the result of excruciating experiment on them. They grew light colored hair, mostly blonde. Some of them gained blue or green eyes."

The latter statement made Kurapika travelled a hand on her hair and face. An incredulous expression invaded her countenance. Art was oblivious to it though since he just kept on walking and not glancing at her.

"What surprised him, was whenever the survivors was in the height of their emotions, their eyes glow red. He said, it seemed he created some monsters," the agent can imagine Kurapika's reaction to what he was saying but he did not dare confirm it by taking a glance at her. He proceeded to walk without looking.

"You see, the documents said that when the changes on those survivors completed, they turned out to be pretty strong people; probably had the strength of three people in one. The alchemists become scared actually, that's what he said in his journal.

"Another month later, one of the survivors died when he tried to escape from the lab. Paracelsus accidentally killed him by a pistol. That was the time he discovered that the red color remained on the eyes when the owner died. He couldn't afford any of his experiments to be exposed in public though, otherwise people will know what he had done and he will be accuse of sorcery and be hanged to death. Paracelsus believed that the red eyes were the very Philosoher's stone. He also believed that the reason why the eyes glows red was because the changes of energy in the body, when the experiment became emotional or angry, affected the stone. The eyes remained red when the person who owned them died, because the eyes absorb the remaining energy in the body, and thus finalized the process of giving birth to the stones."

Kurapika was silent. She could not argue against this since everything the agent said was consistent to her and her people's characteristics.

"Eventually, Paracelsus's lab was discovered one night and was raided. But they found nothing there before they put it in fire. The modern researchers of the organization speculated that the alchemist was informed that such thing was about to happen and so he was able to make preparations and escaped. It was also hypothesized that probably, the alchemist let his experiments escaped, too, and told them to leave the city. And these people started living in isolation and formed their own society, hidden from the outside world because they learned that people might go after them because of their eyes."

"After learning all about this, the organization began secretly stalking your tribe more than ten years ago to conduct studies and was able to prove several things." Art finally took a glance on Kurapika behind him. The blonde hunter's eyes were glowing scarlet but fortunately, those glowering red orbs were not cast at the agent himself. They were cast down. This did not surprise the agent though, in fact he was expecting this. He knew this was too much for Kurapika to digest. Art returned his eyes on the track ahead.

"So that was why the organization was after you Kurapika," Art added, "They want you alive actually. Since they learned that there's still remain a living Kuruta, they will stop at nothing to get you. They might use you for breeding more of your kind to reproduce more authentic scarlet eyes."

Kurapika shivered at the word "breeding".

"But….," the agent continued, "….their experiment will not be successful if they don't get their hands on Merula either."

"Merula?" Kurapika frowned.

"Yeah," Art answered, "Besides the reason that the organization wanted to prevent her from devastating their facilities and stealing the Kuruta eyes from them, whether they were authentic or cloned, they wanted her as well. Let's say Merula is already a successful output of what they are trying to achieve and they wanted to study her to be able to produce more specimen like her; the ones whom they could control like machines. Ever heard of biological weapons? And yeah, that's the reason why we want you away from them, because if the organization gets desperate, if ever they are able to get a single strand of your hair, or a trace of your blood, they could make some clones out of you. We can't afford that to happen either, can we? That's why we got hesitation to let you fight just in case the enemies attack us again. That' why it occurred to me that perhaps Merula was planning to finished you off as soon as we got away from Boracay, then burn your body into ashes so that the enemies wouldn't be able to get the chance to take even a single tiny specimen from you."

Kurapika's mouth opened wide, but no words came out.

"See how things have gotten more complicated when you appeared and turned out to be the last 'living' Kuruta?" Art put a stress on the word 'living', "You should be grateful though. Merula changed her mind. She decided to spare your life."

"Well, don't expect that I'm going to APOLOGIZE for being able to survive the massacre of my tribe and LIVE! And definitely I won't let myself get killed by the likes of you despite everything that you said," Kurapika barked as she hurriedly walked past ahead of the agent who just shrugged.

"No. I won't of course. Look, princess wait-"

"Stop calling me PRINCESS!" Kurapika retorted as she continued to walk hurriedly without glancing at Art who was catching up behind her.

"But you ARE…" Art trailed off then something dawned on him, "…okay maybe you WERE. Doesn't change the fact that you used to be a part of the Kuruta monarchy though," then he put more conspicuous elaboration to his next sentences, "Princess Kurapika, granddaughter of the late Kuruta King! Cousin to Mer-" Art was thankful he was able to cover his mouth to prevent himself from finishing the last sentence or else he might have had accidentally spilled some confidential information without asking Merula's permission. Seconds later, he saw Kurapika standing a couple of meters away ahead of him gaping and frowning.

"How did you…." The blonde hunter stammered. Art shrugged with arms wide open.

"Told you didn't I? I was there."

Kurapika turned away to hide her eyes that started to glow red again. She remained standing to where she was though. She wrapped her arms around herself and struggled to hold back her tears. What she heard, reminded her position in her tribe; it made her feel upset about herself. It reminded her that her people hid her and sacrificed their selves for her to survive and that she could not do anything but watched as they suffered.

A hand suddenly landed gently on her shoulder. It was Art.

"Look, Kurapika," the agent said apologetically, "I'm really sorry for what happened to your tribe. I wanted to apologize about what I did and said to you before as well. The truth is I really don't want you to be killed or die in the first place _because it's not your fault_. I was just…..torn between my conscience and logic back then. I'm not expecting you to forgive me immediately but I hope that you understand now that Merula and I have our reason why we are doing things. All I ask is that you cooperate with us until everything is over."

It dawned to Kurapika that Art was right. It seemed that she got no choice but to cooperate. She also realized, even if it sounded absurd, that it was the right thing to do for the mean time.

Kurapika shut her eyes tight. Rubbed the beads of tears in the corner of her eyes and opened them to reveal that they were back in their cerulean color. When she lifted her head and looked up, she saw Art wearing a gentle genuine smile, looking at down at her with gentle countenance. This made Kurapika's heart skip a beat.

"Well, princess, is it a deal?" Art asked enthusiastically as he reached a hand for a handshake.

….to be continued…

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**Author's Note:**

Actually, some of the statements Art mentioned in this chapter, about Paracelsus's biography, I searched them from Wikipedia. But the latter parts about him doing such dreadful experiments on living humans is, of course, just a product of my imagination and is fictional. I admit this chapter gave me a major headache doing research and connecting things together. Actually, the revelations don't end there. There are more to come.

Sorry if there are still grammar and typo-errors here. I only have a day in a week to write a chapter you see, no enough time to proof-read. I am also not sure if I would be able to update this fic next week. The deadline of my project is getting close and I'm just still halfway to finish the whole project. Huhuhuhuhu….T.T

I also wanted to apologize if I couldn't answer your questions from your reviews directly through PM. I decided that the upcoming chapters would answer those questions. I would also like to apologize if you made some requests where you wanted certain events to see in the upcoming chapters but I cannot guarantee if I could make them happen. You see, like I said before, the whole of this story is already written in my mind. All I need to do is spare some time to type them all down in my PC. Besides, I have to be careful to make everything consistent since this story has lots of twists. Hope you understand. Writing this fic you see was a serious practice for me as an author ;)


	13. Chapter 12: Into Your Place

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ).

**Note:** I would like to thank all of your reviews. They helped a lot really and sorry if the previous chapters still have grammar and typo errors...I'll keep working on the improvements. Anyway, keep the reviews and corrections coming. ;) Thank you.

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**Chapter 12:**

**Into Your Place**

Marj had herself busy browsing the net for hours while waiting for Merula and her Uncle to arrive. The room she was in, was the bar customer area in the ground floor, since the house she lived in was a pub owned by her grandfather to her mother's side. Marj would help her grandpa occasionally in managing the said pub. She could have been doing it in full time if she did not have other interests and some other jobs she chose to spend more time on.

The said room was dimly lit, despite the fact that the current time was mid afternoon. Lamps were turned off during such hour since the official opening hour of the pub was round 5:00pm, and as much as the owner of the pub could allow, daylight coming from the windows, was the only illumination in the said establishment, only during daytime of course. Although the pub was supposedly close on the said hour, Marj let two of their regular customers in, and at that moment, both of them were rambling incoherent words to each other since both of the said customers were already drunk for almost two hours. Marj did not pay attention to them though. She decided to wait for them to leave before cleaning up the mess they made. That was probably the most generous thing she could ever do to their customers as long as they were not making any damages on any of the pub's property.

Marj, on the other hand, was a girl in her late teens. She got a short but lank tangerine hair, and dark green, confident eyes. Her punk fashion sense and physical appearance might not suggest it but she was a techie. She also had this eight-legged spider tattoo on the back of her left palm that could have been the emblem of her weird hobby.

Marj looked up at the clockworks on the wall above the wooden cabinet that contained stored alcoholic beverages. The clock said 15 minutes to go before 1:00pm and Merula and her Uncle had not arrived yet despite the fact that she learned that they were already in this island. She wondered what was taking them so long. Marj yawned in boredom, then suddenly she heard the sound of footfalls climbing up the wooden steps by the entrance of the pub and it was getting closer. A silhouette of a young woman appeared by the door and then she walked towards Marj. Marj pulled down the screen of her laptop and looked up at the girl standing in front of her with an eyebrow raised.

"Woah!" was Marj's greeting after seeing Merula in her ensemble with its upper part and left sleeve being ripped off, her clavicle was exposed so as her left arm which was wrapped in gauze to cover the skin, "I take it, something crappy happened during your operation."

Merula did not say a word as a reply. Instead, she put the burnt glass cylinder on the burnished wooden counter next to Marj's laptop.

"Is that a specimen?" Marj asked with a deep frown and slight disgust. She stared at it while she leaned her chin on her palm. She did not dare touch it. Well, not immediately.

"Yes," Merula answered flatly, "It has already mutated."

"WHAT! Eww! Gross!" Marj exclaimed, barely turning her head to look away in disgust, "So it's alive?"

"It's dead," Merula replied flatly, "I killed it on the way."

"Are you sure that it's really dead?"

"Wanna see it for yourself?"

"NO!" Marj exclaimed in utter objection, "Gawd NO!" She took a deep breathe before she straightened her back into sitting position. Then she leaned forward to examine the burnt cylinder with her eyes, "I'll save it when we finally dissect this thing."

"I need 2 gallons of _Agua Oxinada_ by the way," Merula announced.

Marj's head jerked upwards and she stared at Merula with wide confused eyes, "That much?"

"I need to clean my self up," Merula explained

"Had some bloody encounter on the way, I assume," Marj commented as she leaned her back to her swivel chair and relaxed. Merula did not answer, she looked at her left hand and fixed the gauze wrapping it,"…and you don't wanna share the story right now."

"Well said," Merula complimented

"Where's Uncle by the way?"

Merula put down her hand and looked at Marj, "He's on his way."

"It's rare that you left him in your journey towards here," Marj then sighed and spun her swivel chair to face the floor cabinet behind her. She grunted as she endeavored to lift a gallon of Agua Oxinada and put it on the counter, "I wish that Uncle would just get a new girlfriend or rather get a new wife, a new mother for Lina!" Marj suddenly whined while heaving more grunts as she put another gallon onto the counter. She was panting laboriously afterwards, "Wew! Honestly, that could be a big help for himself and for us," she wiped the sweats on her forehead by the back of her palm, "We can't babysit Lina forever!"

Merula took each gallon with both hands. She turned her back from Marj and ambled away without saying a word. Then, abruptly she stopped after several steps and craned at Art's niece only to meet her eyes.

"You need anything else?" Marj inquired. Merula just shook her head, turned her back and started to walk again heading towards the stairs. She could have told Marj that probably, her wish would be granted when her Uncle finally arrive. Well, probably.

In a minute, Merula was climbing up the stairs to the second floor; both of her hands carried a gallon of _Agua Oxinada_. The second floor contained a narrow hallway with waxed wooden flooring, and there was a series of bedrooms along it to one side while the other side contained a couple of doors giving access to the veranda. From the veranda, a white-sand beach could be seen.

Merula entered inside one of those rooms, the one in the farthest end of the hallway. Later she entered into the bathroom and poured the contents of the gallons into the bathtub. A transparent liquid pooled in the tub, only two centimeters deep. But Merula thought this was enough for her.

Later, Merula's feet and legs were naked. Then her ripped-off upper ensemble, her glove and the gauze that was wrapping her left arm and hand, fell to the floor next to her feet. She walked away from them and stepped into the tub fully naked, revealing her milk-white flawless skin. She sat there, knees folded under her chin, her arms wrapped around herself.

For a moment, there was silence. Merula then stood up and pressed her palms against the wall, her feet remained soaked into the Agua Oxinada in the tub. Her head was bent down between her arms. Then, her left eye gradually lost its amethyst color and replaced by the scarlet glow. Merula gritted her teeth. Her countenance finally broke down with emotion; the kind of emotion as if she was enduring an excruciating pain.

Something flopped into the pool of Agua Oxinada next to Merula's feet. It frothed the moment it dropped into the liquid. Then the foam disappeared and revealed a bullet.

Meanwhile something was happening on Merula's back. It was as if snakes were shifting and moving under her milky-white skin. Then the whiteness of the skin gradually faded into dark, indistinct pattern. Dark purple nerves swelled and spread vigorously throughout her torso, practically ruining the milk white color of the membrane.

Small holes then appeared on her back one by one. There could be more or less 10 of them, and crimson blood begun streaming from those holes. Holes also appeared on both of her arms; there must be two or three on each of them. Then, from each of those blood-dripping holes, a gun bullet was spewed out. Each bullet that dove into the pool of Agua Oxinada frothed in the liquid as the chemical reacted to the blood. Each hole closed immediately after discharging a bullet.

Merula stooped on fours in the bathtub, panting heavily as she stared at the bullets submerged in the Agua Oxinada beneath her. The swollen purple nerved on her skin gradually disappeared, and the milk white color of her skin returned, but the bloodstains remained. At that moment, she looked like she literally bathed in her own blood.

* * *

Art's head poked out of the bushes with a slightly swollen forehead and a couple of bruises. He travelled his eyes around warily to make sure that it was safe to come out of hiding. When he said safe, he meant that there were no enemies stalking them anymore. Now you might be wondering how Art had gotten those bruises and swollen forehead…

* * *

_Half an hour ago…._

"_Kurapika, I'll answer the rest of your questions WHEN WE GET TO MY PLACE, OKAY?" Art insisted impatiently, for Kurapika had been interrogating him practically non-stop on the way, "Besides…." The agent halted for a moment, pulled the collar of her undershirt towards his nose and sniffed it, "…I stink like shit! I had bathed in seawater and I haven't washed out myself yet for almost 24 hours now! Pe-eww!"_

"_Well, are you sure we're going the right way?" the blonde hunter inquired, changing her question._

"_Of course I'm sure!" the agent replied arrogantly with elaboration and started walking again, "I was born in here!" Art was able to fumble a stick of cigarette from the back pocket of his jeans and put it in his mouth excitedly. Suddenly he pulled it off his mouth and looked at it with disgust, "Fweh! Salty!" and threw it over his shoulder, not giving a damn to whomever was going to be hit by it_

"_Look. Just trust me, okay?" Art prompted._

"_Right…" Kurapika said doubtfully, and then she mumbled something under her breath. Art turned and looked at her with a sour face and pointed a finger at her._

"_Hey I heard that!" the agent accused._

"_Heard what?" Kurapika defended, playing innocent._

"_You said 'right…like I'm going to trust a lecher like you'. Are you still worked up on it? I said I WAS SORRY, right? Besides,come to think of it, it was kind'a unfair for ME. You, aside from being flat-chested, you're not even sexy! Don't get your hopes up that I'll ever attempt to do that on you again! You're not even my ty-Ouch!"_

_Before the agent could even finish his sentence, something hard and rough hit his head. When he turned and looked at the Kuruta, her face was red like a tomato and her eyes were scarlet with rage. She was holding a dried stick, as thick and as long as a baseball bat. Art was not sure where Kurapika found it but he was sure she was going to hit him with it. _

_Seconds later the agent was on a run through the woods, trying desperately to get away from the angry blonde who wanted to see him bleed, literally. And from that moment on, Art had probably promised to remind himself not to anger Kurapika again. Besides, he should be thanking the heavens that she had not used her Nen on him._

* * *

"Well, princess, I think we found it," Art announced as he stepped off unsteadily from the bushes and into the wider track, a track wide enough for a vehicle to pass through.

"Found what?" Kurapika asked as she, too, jumped out from the bushes.

"The road leading to the town. We take this course and we'll end up there," the agent explained.

"I see, so your place is in the town at the end of this road, right? Let's go then," Kurapika started ambling.

"Wait," Art grabbed Kurapika's arm to stop her. She jerked her arm off the agent's grasp violently, scowled at him and made an akimbo.

"Now what?" the Kuruta inquired irately.

"I don't…wanna walk anymore. I'm fucking bushed already!" Art whined.

Kurapika crossed her arms together in her middle irately. Her frown became worse.

"And what do you expect to happen? Carry you on my back?" the blonde hunter said sarcastically, "A little walk and you're already tired? And you call yourself a man?"

Art ignored her and sat on the earthy ground, not giving a damn if the bottom of his jeans got dirty.

"Look! We've walked almost more than 15 miles now! I don't know what sort of trick your Nen can do to maintain that energy of yours, princess, but I'm not like you," the agent replied irately, "I'd say we stay here and wait 'til someone comes along and give us a ride."

"How sure are you that it's already 15 miles?"

"Will you please kindly SHUT UP, princess?" the agent said almost urbanely but sarcastically.

Abruptly, both of them heard a sound of a motor vehicle from a distance. Kurapika immediately made a fighting stance, preparing herself for whatever danger she thought was coming. Then she heard a raucous sigh from the agent.

"Princess, relax, that's our ride."

From the distance, at the far end of the road, as much as Art and Kurapika could view it, a three-wheeled motor vehicle, a tricycle, was making its way towards them. The agent endeavored to pull himself into standing position and walked to the middle of the road. Art raised both of his arms high and waved. The tricycle pulled over immediately, and its driver, who looked like a young man in his late teens, wearing a cap backwards, poked his head to the side to look at the stranger blocking the way. Gradually, a grin flourished on his face upon recognizing the agent.

"Mang Artemio!" the young driver exclaimed in excitement, "Ikaw ba yan? Wow! Kelan ka pa dumating?(Is that you! Wow! Since when did you arrive?)"

The agent put down his arms and walked to the driver, squinting.

"Berto ikaw ba yan?(Berto is that you?)" The agent pulled out the cap off his head. Berto tried to prevent the agent from messing up his hair but failed. Eventually, he was able to grab back his cap and put it back on, "Ang laki mo na ah! Nawala lang ako ng ilang buwan eh.(You're all grown up! I was gone for only few months and here you are!)"

"Ehem!" Kurapika insinuated.

Berto prodded his elbow to Art's side upon seeing the blonde hunter.

"Mang Artemio, sinong yung magandang chicks? Girlfriend mo?(Mang Artemio, who's the beautiful chick? Is she your girlfriend?)" Berto inquired, "Wala na talaga akong masabi! Ikaw na! Bilib na talaga ako sa mga diskarte mo-Aruy!(I have nothing to say! You are THE MAN! Your way of getting the good ones is really admirable-Ouch!)"

The agent had smacked the back of Berto's head, strong enough to interrupt him from what he was saying.

"Mali ka ng iniisip mo!(It's not what you think!)" Art denied, "At pwede ba tigilan mo yang pagtawag sa akin ng Artemio. Tawagin mo akong Art. Mas may class yung Art. Nga pala baka naman pwede mo kaming iangkas hanggang sa bayan?(And stop calling me Artemio. Call me Art. Art sounds classier. Anyway, can you give us a lift to the town?)"

"SURE! Basta ba babayaran nyo ako eh! (SURE! As long as you're going to pay me.)" Berto replied with enthusiasm.

Art answered nothing. Instead, he walked to the back of the tricycle and before Berto knew it, his vehicle's front was being lifted from the ground. Art was pulling the vehicle into inclined position, threatening to turn it upside down. Berto panicked while he was still in the driver's seat.

"Oo na OO NA! Libre na! Susmariosep! (Okay! OKAY FINE! I'll do it for free! Susmariosep!)" Berto declared frantically.

After less than 10 minutes, Kurapika and Art were walking in the crowded town. The sidewalk was filled with vendors and stores of various commodities and most of them were something Kurapika had never seen before. People, whether the vendors, the children playing along the street, or the others who were also just passing by, could not help turned their heads and looked at the blonde girl accompanied by the agent. Kurapika would just ignore the attention and would keep on to her pace behind Art. Art, on the other hand would occasionally bumped into several people who seemed to be acquainted to him, and they would greet each other. Although, Kurapika could not understand their language, she was aware that some of those people could not help looked at her and asked Art about her, probably asking who she was or who was she to Art. She would see the agent shaking his head and waving his hands in denial while slightly blushing, and the person whom he had talked to would just grin. Art would ignore it and would continue on the way and Kurapika herself would follow behind him as usual.

The blonde hunter saw the agent turned to the right in one corner in the street. She increased her pace to catch up only to be surprised that the alley that the agent had taken was utterly crowded. She saw Art wading through the heavy traffic of people with great ease. Kurapika thought, the agent was used to this. The Kuruta told herself. She should not let herself get intimidated by the heavy crowd. She was a hunter after all. Fear of just venturing into the crowd was trivial and out of the question. So, she went on and soon she was struggling to get through the horde of people wading in various directions. There would be someone who would accidentally push Kurapika forward, that it almost made her trip or practically loose her grip; some would bump painfully against her shoulder in both directions. Then, few people appeared and blocked her way to offer the goods they sell. They tried persistently to convince her to purchase something but the blonde hunter just pushed through them and ignored them.

Kurapika stretched her neck and tried to look over the swarms of people to find the agent but she could not see him anymore. She began to feel nervous then. Hesitantly, she moved on straight ahead and soon she was wading through the heavier crowd. Kurapika would occasionally looked up to the towering concrete walls that casing the alleyway, hoping that she would see a sign that would guide her to get out from this hell. Unfortunately, there was none and she had to accept the fact that she was not familiar with the place.

Gradually, fear started to flourish within her. The fear of being lost and being trapped in an unfamiliar territory with uncertainty of where to go. She tried to fight off the fear. She told herself that this should not get into her. Abruptly, the crowd she was in became tighter. Soon she found herself being squeezed among people. She could not move anymore and it annoyed her. She tried to push though but the crowd would not let her. She had no clue why the crowd was not moving or why had it suddenly became so horribly restricted.

Kurapika wanted to get out from there. However, she was thinking twice if she should use her Nen. She might accidentally hurt innocent people if she used a force provided by her Nen, and she did not want that to happen as much as possible. She wanted to take her time to think but there was no time for her to take. She started to feel the lack of oxygen. She was suffocating. She began to panic inside. Was she going to die in such a lowly manner without accomplishing her goal? This was stupid! The she realized that this was probably her own fault by making a mistake of venturing into the wrong way. Even though she hated it, thoughtfully, she prayed that someone would come and rescue her.

"_Art where the hell are you, you jerk!"_ Kurapika screamed in her mind.

Abruptly the crowd moved, pushing her forward and she could not fight it. Kurapika thought she was going to be squeezed literally, when suddenly, her body slid through the gap that suddenly appeared in the crowd. She was going to fall flat to the rough ground when a hand caught her by the arm. She looked up and saw Art's worried countenance. Kurapika's expression on the other hand, still had a trace of fear and panic; her eyes had a slight tint of scarlet hue. She could have cried in happiness and relief, but Kurapika seemed to have trained herself well on holding back her tears.

"Are you alright?" asked the agent with concern. Art's words suddenly made the blonde hunter snap back to reality and she immediately jerked her arm from the agent's hold and pulled herself straight into standing position.

"Where the hell have you been? You jerk!" Kurapika yelled at the agent angrily as she impulsively smacked his arm.

"Ow!" Art exclaimed as he rubbed his arm, "You don't have to do that! Well, where have YOU been? I thought you were just right behind me until YOU suddenly disappeared."

The blonde hunter just rolled her eyes and mumbled incoherent words out of frustration.

Art looked around, he realized that they were still halfway from getting out of the crowded alley, so without a warning, the agent grabbed the blonde hunter's hand and pulled her along with him. Kurapika flinched from the sudden physical contact and would like to pull away her hand but she hesitated. The way Art hold her hand, somehow, she felt secured and protected from the crowds that surrounded her.

"Hold onto me okay? You're too slow. I can't loose you again."

Those words suddenly made Kurapika's heart beat faster. She could not understand why, but she could not help it. The latter sentence Art had spoken seemed to have a lot of meaning for her. Then, she was confused, and oblivious of her flushed cheeks. Apparently, the confusion kept her quiet while she and the agent waded through the crowd hand in hand. Kurapika could feel the strength of the agent's sturdy arm as he pulled her along with him, preventing her from being trapped among the crowd again and from being left behind. She looked at Art's hand holding hers. The agent's hand was coarse and obviously was larger than hers. Thus, Kurapika contemplated that Art must have gone through a lot already. That hand might have done a lot of hard work in the past, but somehow, the said hand still managed to show gentleness in that occasion. Soon, Kurapika let herself relax and let Art dragged her through. She thought, somehow, the warmth from the agent's hand felt nice.

Almost half an hour later, the two finally managed to get out from the crowded alleyway and soon they were walking in a less crowded sidewalk. Art apologized to the blonde hunter for going through crowded lane because that was the best shortcut they could ever take. The agent asked the Kuruta if she was hungry and soon they were munching meat buns as they continue on their way.

The sun was close to setting when Art and Kurapika reached the slope leading up to a two-storey cabin standing solely on top of the woody hill. Art pointed to Kurapika that that house was his place.

There was a concrete walling patched with round stones along one side of slope, while on the other side was richly planted with trees and bushes that were sprinkled by wild flowers in various colors. It rather looked nice, Kurapika thought as she travelled her eyes on them. As she looked more carefully through woods along the way, she could see that there was an ocean from not so distant.

"Princess," Art began as they climbed up the slope, interrupting Kurapika from her exploration, "While you're here, I think you should learn a bit of our native language."

"Is that really necessary?" Kurapika queried.

"Well, I just thought that at least you'll have a clue of what people are talking about if they start having conversations around you, or you'll have a clue if they start talking behind your back literally."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like…." Art though for a moment, then he hawked nervously, "…like..Ehem! 'Kurapika, gusto na yata kita' ('Kurapika, I think I like you')."

The blonde hunter frowned.

"What's that mean?" the Kuruta inquired.

"Um…."

"Ooooooyyy! Uuuuuuuuuuuyyyyy!" before Art could give a complete answer, they were interrupted by some people calling and waving at them. When he and Kurapika looked up on the elevated part of the slope, they saw two drunken old men, with arms hooked on each other's shoulder, tottering down towards them.

"Mang Tonyo, Mang Ramon, ang aga yata ng lasingan natin ah! (Mang Tonyo, Mang Ramon, it seemed you got yourselves drunk way too early eh!)" Art commented the two drunken men as he and Kurapika met them on the way. The old men squinted at them.

"Ikaw ba'y ….*sinok* (Are you….. *hiccough*)" One of them pointed a finger at the agent, "…yung anak ni Rudy? (Rudy's son?)"

"Hindi po. Pamangkin po nya ako. (No. I'm his nephew.)" Art answered as polite as he could make it sound.

"A…Artemio? Ikaw ba yan! (A…Artemio? Is that you!)" The other drunken man burst out.

"Ako nga po. (Yes, it's me.)"

"Aba! Aba! Aba! Dumating ka na pala! (Aba! Aba! Aba! So you've arrived!)"

Finally, they caught sight of Kurapika and tottered close to her. The blonde hunter walked backwards, keeping a good distance from them and tactically put her hand on her face, making herself appeared not too obvious that she was covering her nose and mouth because she did like the smell coming from the two drunken men.

"At sino naman 'tong kasama mong anghel, huh? Artemio? (And who is this angel with you, huh, Artemio?)" one of them said as they ogled Kurapika from head to toe.

"She's-"

Before Art could answer, the two drunken men suddenly tripped backwards and they rolled like a couple of boulders all the way to the flat base of the slope. Kurapika stared incredulously at them with wide eyes. She could not believe what she just saw. The two men tried to get back upon their feet but failed several times. If they would not land on their bum, they would stagger and fall on their faces. It was hilarious but Kurapika refused to laugh.

"Aren't you going to help them?" Kurapika asked Art.

"Do you want to?" the agent replied sarcastically.

"Umm…"

"Don't mind them. They can take care of themselves. They were like that almost every day."

"Everyday!" Kurapika exclaimed in disbelief.

Before Art urged her to move, Kurapika heard the drunken men chuckling from the distance, "Pare, nasa langit na ba ako? Gusto ko uling makita yung anghel!(Pare, am I in heaven? I wanna see that angel again!)"

Art's house was obviously made of wood. Apparently, it looked sturdy enough to last for generations. There was a greenhouse not far from right side of the house. Kurapika wondered what sort of plants and herbs were planted inside there. There was also a small garden at the front yard. The moment they entered through the bamboo gate along the bamboo fence, she smelled several various fragrances coming from some flowering plants in the said garden. The fragrances could be those coming from Sampaguita and Ilang-Ilang. The atmosphere in there felt relaxing otherwise. There was a wooden steps leading to the main entrance of the house since the ground floor was elevated a couple of feet from the ground.

"Uncle!" a girl called from not so distant. Art and Kurapika turned their head towards the direction where the voice came from and they saw a teenage girl with short orange hair, wearing a white apron and white gloves, running from the green house.

"Marj!" Art exclaimed excitedly, spreading his arms to welcome her niece in a warm embrace. Kurapika was silent. She did not dare interfere into the warm reunion. She just stood next to the wooden railing of the porch as she watched silently. She was a bit surprised by the event though.

"Nice to see you again, Uncle!" Marj declared heartily as she pulled away from him while wearing her sweetest smile.

"It's nice to see you, too, Marj." Art replied sweetly.

"Art! Art is that you, nephew!" A bearded man in his 60's with a hefty body appeared from inside the house and strode hurriedly towards Art. He put his strong arms around the agent and patted him on the back happily. When he pulled away, he looked at him from head to toe and frowned, "Why are you in your undershirt?"

"Oh! Well, well, well. Look it here!" Marj announced eagerly as she saw Kurapika, interrupting Art and his uncle in their moments. She did an akimbo, her hands still wearing gardening gloves as she stares at the blonde hunter, "Is she your new girlfriend Uncle?"

"Um…she's…."

"DADDY!" everyone looked up at the veranda by the second floor. A girl, probably in age 10, poked her head out and looked down at them at the porch. A wide smile flourished on her face and abruptly she hurried down to the ground floor. Seconds later, the girl emerged from the door in the porch and ran excitedly towards Art.

"Daddy!" the girl exclaimed as she let out spontaneous giggles, that kind of giggles little innocent girls do.

"Lina! Hi baby, how are you!"

She jumped onto the agent's arms and Art lifted her from the ground with his arms wrapped around her tightly, embracing her like there was no tomorrow. The girl, Lina, Art's daughter, had a long blonde, straight hair, reaching down her waist tied in a ponytail. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and shorts. The red cap on her head was placed in backward position, thus, anyone could conclude that the girl seemed a bit boyish.

Kurapika's frowned as she uttered under her breath, "Daddy?" _Art is a father?_ She declared thoughtfully. Soon, she began to feel awkward and out of place as she watched the agent and his daughter in their moment. Lina immediately noticed Kurapika's presence. The girl pulled away from her father and hesitantly walked towards the blonde hunter while she looked at her with wonder.

To sweep away the awkward atmosphere between them, Kurapika smiled at her. Immediately the girl smiled back. Abruptly, the girl flung herself into her, hugging Kurapika tight while pressing her face against her stomach. Kurapika, was of course, utterly surprised by this. Lina then lifted her head and looked up at Kurapika straight in the eyes with a wide grin.

"Are you my new mommy?"

Kurapika's jaw dropped.

...to be continued…..

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Okay sorry if there are still grammar/spelling errors since I had no enough time to reread and proof-read this as usual. And sorry if the title of this chapter sucks. I couldn't think of anything else  
I decided to update this fic tonight even though I mentioned that I'm going to update it next week. Well, I had an announcement. I might actually put this in hiatus again. Maybe continue writing this next month or in the last week of next month or yet, next year. I just though of posting this chapter to give you a bit of a cliffhanger :P. To be honest, I'm not really good in writing stories about romance. I suck in it. It's just that my friend suggested that once Kurapika is female, there should be romance in the story. *shrug* The original plan was there should only be Merula and Kurapika going on a journey to retrieve the scarlet eyes, and the fanfic will be packed with bloody actions and fight scenes. But after romance was suggested, Art had to come along. :P

And yes…a lot of new OCs have appeared. But it can't be helped right? Since this fic is mainly focus on Kurapika, her past, and the history of her tribe. Wew! And yeah, this chapter somewhat focus on the blossoming romance between Art and Kurapika. Uuuurrrgh…to be honest, I can't help to feel some shivers when I say romance between my male OC and Kurapika…( I feel awkward actually and thank goodness only few of my close friends know about this…I feel really embarrassed writing love stories…urgh…)

Anyway, hope you enjoy this fic ;)


	14. Chapter 13: The Favour

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ).

**Note:** Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^Thank you.

* * *

**Chapter 13:**

**The Favour**

"_Big Brother?"_

"_Yes, Merula?"_

"_Do mother and Grandpa hate me?"_

"_What's makes you say that?"_

"_(sniff) It's because mother gave me a taboo name. Grandpa said, my name is taboo, as well as the colour of my left eye."_

"_I think your name is wonderful, Merula. It's a name of a bird. Birds are magnificent creatures. They are gifted with glorious freedom. They can fly high in the sky, touch the clouds and see the mountains and the oceans from above. I believe that one day, you'll grow as splendid as a bird, my beloved little sister." _

"Miruki. Brother. I hate you. Why do you have to make me believe all these lies?"

* * *

Merula's eyes fluttered, and then opened gradually. At first, everything was covered in white. As her mismatched eyes adjusted in the glare, she realized that it was just the lamp above her that seemed a little too bright in the room at first. She stirred her head and noted that she had been laying her head over her arm that folded over the edge of the bathtub for god knows how long.

She spun suddenly, her feet and hands splashed over the shallow pool of Hydrogen Peroxide (Agua Oxinada), and saw herself naked. She saw streaks of clotted blood on her skin, and remembered everything that had occurred.

Minutes later, she stepped off from the bathtub, fully cleansed, revealing the flawless milky-white skin. Water mixed with agua oxinada was dripping from her wet hair.

She stopped in front of a wooden closet next to a neatly arranged bed, opened it and pulled a black leather ensemble. Soon, Merula was fully covered in leathery again and was facing the mirror back in the bathroom. She leaned a gloved hand over the edge of the sink and examined her countenance carefully. The other gloved hand was hovering next to her face but not touching the skin.

She blinked a couple of times and slowly moved her face towards the mirror. Two pairs of mismatched eyes were staring back at each other in a deafening silence. Suddenly something moved under the skin of her left cheek, which made Merula flinch.

The said movement continued, as if there were tiny snakes crawling over one another beneath her skin. Merula bent over the lavatory when a sudden inexplicable pain surged within her. She could feel her flesh began shuffling under her skin as if they became alive suddenly and had minds of their own. She gritted her teeth, almost making her gums bleed. She was convulsing terribly. It seemed like she was reaching her limit-she could feel that she was close to losing control of her own body and mind.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then gradually, she opened her eyes again and revealed her left iris burning with blood's colour. Purple veins began to spread and swell vividly around her scarlet eyes. Then, in seconds, the convulsion stopped. She slowly lifted her head and looked at the mirror again, panting. Her breath steamed under her nose. She looked at her reflection. A hideous sight-a black haired girl with mismatched eyes, whose face was half mutated into an ugly monster, was staring back at her. Later, the purple veins banished beneath the milk-white skin. Then abruptly, a repulsive purplish liquid burst from Merula's mouth and splashed onto the mirror in front of her, covering the smooth, glassy surface and blurring the reflection in it. Merula coughed several times. Purplish saliva trickled from her mouth and into the lavatory, ruining the smooth, white surface of it for a moment. Later the disgusting substance banished into the lavatory drain with water. After that, Merula felt better. But the conclusion remained in her mind that her body was close to deterioration in which not even a countless amount of Belladonna shots could suppress. She needed to act fast and accomplished what she should do as soon as possible.

* * *

"Are you my new mommy?" Lina, Art's daughter, smiled sweetly at Kurapika as she looked up at her with excited sage eyes, her slim and delicate arms still wrapped around her firmly and seemed would not let go until her question was answered.

Kurapika was gaping and was frozen in her position. She did not have the heart to push the kid away nor break the truth to her so suddenly to ruined the joy overwhelming her. The blonde hunter made an awkward smile and almost sweating coldly.

"Um...," the Kuruta said finally to Lina but got interrupted when Art walked towards them and poked her daughter gently on the shoulder.

"Lina, sweetheart?" Art broke in gently, "The two of us need to talk for a minute, okay?"

The girl unwrapped her arms from Kurapika and saw her father boldly put one bare arm around Kurapika's shoulder as he pulled her along with him and away from her and the rest of the people. They stopped at the far end of the porch where it was remote enough for them not to hear their conversation.

Kurapika, on the other hand, as much as she wanted to punch the agent on the gut, she restrained herself from doing so. She did not want the agent's relatives to see her doing such uncouth thing to Art in his own home, right? So she thought of just snarling a warning to him. She was about to do that when the agent bent his arm around her even more adding weight on it, enough to make Kurapika bent down a bit and be drawn closer to Art. Surprised, she squirmed and was about to elbow the agent when...

"Listen, Kurapika," the agent began, "I got a big favour to ask." Art glanced over his shoulder and saw that Lina and the others were suspiciously watching the two of them.

"Favour? Will you please get off your arm from me first?" Kurapika snarled at him in a whisper, her eyes shut tight. She did not want to look at the agent's face up close. The current physical contact with him was giving her enough shivers. The agent ignored her complaint though.

"Ehem...er...Kurapika," Art continued in a whisper with slight hesitation and in a hoarse voice, "Will you please...er..." the agent stopped for a moment and blushed faintly.

"What?" Kurapika inquired impatiently, her eyes opened halfway; scarlet hue flickered on those irises.

"This is for Lina's sake. So it's really a big favour I'm asking you," the agent added.

"Just go direct to the point, will you?" Kurapika answered exasperatedly, squirming and trying to pull away from the agent but failed. The Kuruta thought that Art might be using Zetsu on her again. Damn it! She got caught off guard again!

"Will you...pretend...to be my girlfriend for the meantime?"

"Are you kidding me!"

"Sssssshhhhh...Minimize you voice. Listen, Lina grew without a mother since she was just almost two years old. And I was always away from home. Every time I get home, she kept asking me if I could find a new mother for her. My uncle was bugging me about getting a new fiancé and Marj, my niece too, and Marj-isn't really motherly enough for Lina, as what my daughter always whine. I mean she knows she's her cousin and Marj's a really busy person too and-".

"And you think I'm the ideal mother type for Lina, is that it?" Kurapika scowled.

"All I ask is that you PRETEND to be my girlfriend for the meantime."  
"And how long exactly is that 'meantime'?"

"While we're still here, that's all."  
"You think I don't realize the possible mechanics of this whole 'pretending' thing do you?"

"Please...?"  
"I don't think it's a good idea, really?"  
"Please? Princess? Would you dare to break my daughter's heart?"

"You know I could be a good friend for her without pretending to be-"

The cheerfulness gradually left Lina's face as she watched her father and the blonde guest for more than three minutes. Some conclusions started to dawn on her when she saw that they were not really intimate to each other, and she did not like those conclusions. She pouted, bent her head and looked down with a dispirited countenance. Her hand began to play the hem of her oversized t-shirt.

The agent was not finished explaining when Kurapika pulled violently away from Art. She craned to look at Lina. Seeing the girl in such a sad pose, the blonde hunter felt compunction and eventually changed her mind.

Soon Kurpika was rubbing her nape, looking reluctant about something she was about to do. Then the agent smiled and was about to embrace her when the Kuruta brought him up short by her glare. The agent hesitated, then just warily and slowly put a hand on Kurapika's shoulder and the two of them walked towards Lina like a parent visiting their child in her bedroom. Kurapika, however, struggled not to fidget while Art's hand was on her shoulder and their bodies pressed together side by side. Lina, seeing this, a wide grin returned on her face.

"Lina? Everyone?" the agent also acknowledge his uncle and niece, "This is Kurapika. And YES, she's...er..." the agent wiped his nose by a finger, a manner signifying his nervousness, his cheek flushed faintly, "...my...girlfriend."

Kurapika's cheek burned, an eyebrow was twitching while she forced a smile to greet Art's family.

Lina's grin became wider; Marj raised a suspicious eyebrow while Art's uncle jerked his head up in surprised and was chuckling like Santa Clause while his fingers ran through his beard in amusement.

"Nice Uncle Art. You sure have a thing for blondes, haven't you?" Marj teased.

"How long had it been since your relationship started?" Art's Uncle and niece began throwing questions at the two of them consecutively afterwards.

"How did you meet each other?"  
"When?"  
"Where?"

"How old are you Kurapika?"

"Uncle, have you already scored?" Marj asked practically in a whisper but her question reached everyone's earshot otherwise, which made Art blushed hotter, but apparently, Kurapika and Lina seemed to miss its meaning.

"Dad," Lina interjected, "If she really is your girlfriend, then how about you kiss her right here right now?"

Everyone fell silent after hearing Lina's suggestion. Kurapika's face became redder and her mouth opened as wide as it could go. She wanted to protest but it occurred to her quickly that it might ruin the first minute of their charade. Art, on the other hand, pondered where her daughter got such idea.

The two felt silently awkward for a moment, almost spazzing out.

"What's wrong with you two?" Marj scowled at them, "It's just a kiss. It wouldn't hurt for lovers like you, right?"

Lina's eyes sparkled. She moved her head from left to right and vice versa while waiting patiently for her father and his undercover girlfriend to do what they had been asked to. Kurapika and Art realized that they would not let them be unless they get on with it.

The agent faced Kurapika. Apparently, the agent did not look as nervous as the blonde hunter did, but evidently, he was blushing. He gave Kurapika that meaningful look implying that they had no choice but to do it. Kurapika, on the other hand, forced a fake smile but the agent could feel the aura of animosity emitting from her. The Kuruta was smiling in a manner where her eyes were narrowed to prevent the people around her to see her irises, which she knew, were already glowing scarlet due to controlled rage.

"Well?" Marj inquired impatiently, "Get on with it!"

Kurapika turned her head to the side to look at Marj, and smiled at her while she struggled to hide her reluctance and nervousness. She was hoping that the earth suddenly gapes open and swallows her so she could just escape this awkward situation. On that moment, the agent thought of giving the blonde hunter a quick peck on the cheek when Kurapika suddenly whirled back her head, thus Art's lips ended up meeting half of her's. Two pairs of shocked eyes stared at each other in a frozen moment. Either Kurapika blushed more hotly because of the kiss or because of a pair of lovely sage eyes that were staring back at her own, so close, almost enough to make her melt.

"Ehem!" Marj coughed, interrupting everyone, waving off the awkward atmosphere, "That will do nicely. Thank you very much."

Marj told Lina to lend her room to Kurapika for the meantime and that she could share her room with her. Lina agreed without hesitation. Soon, Kurapika was trailing behind Art and his daughter upstairs leading to a hallway with a series of rooms along it. Lina's room was the second one from the stairs, between Art's and Marj room. Minutes later, Lina stepped off her room carrying her stuff.

"Lina, is this really okay?" Kurapika asked the girl anxiously. Lina nodded with great enthusiasm and enthusiastically.

"It's fine, really, Mommy Kurapika, unless you want to share the room with dad," the Kuruta was taken aback by girl's address to her and especially with her latter suggestion. Lina saw her reaction and the cheerfulness left her countenance suddenly, "Is it okay to call you Mommy?"

"Lina," her father, who stood next to the entrance of his room, interjected, "Just call her Miss Kurapika or Aunt Kurapika, okay?"

_[N/A:In the Philippines, Aunt, although it is the formal honorific for sister of a parent by the parent's child, it is also usually use as honorific for stepmother or to an older woman that is a close friend of a parent-at least that's what I know ^^']_

Seeing his father giving her that look which was almost a glare, Lina had no choice but to agreed.

"O...okay," Lina announced as she turned her back at them to hide her pouting mouth, and banished inside Marj's room to settle her stuff.

"Feel at home, princess. Treat Lina's room like it's yours. It's not as lavish and as elegant as that of a hotel room from the big city but I hope that you'll make yourself comfortable," Art told the Kuruta. His voice was almost laborious implying that he was indeed exhausted already and that his body was craving for a long rest.

"It's fine. Thank you," Kurapika replied gratefully, "But I need to go downtown first. I need to buy new proper clothes." _This leather jacket is too hot for me_, she could have added since she had been sweating a lot since the said jacket was put on her, and the tropical temperature of the province made it worse.

"No," The agent replied firmly.

"What?"

"It's almost dark. I can't let you go there alone."  
"Art. I'm a hunter. You think I could easily be-

"Exactly! You're a hunter...You got cash to spend with you?"

"I got a Hunter's License Card."

"It won't work here. This is a province after all. Hunter's Card won't buy anything here. It's not like the big city that we've been before with ATMs, credit cards, and Hunter's License Cards. Everything here is acquired by cash. Peso bill to be exact. Everything is traded here through old fashion way. You've seen everything while we were on our way towards here right?"

Realizing that the agent was right, the blonde hunter heaved an annoyed sigh in defeat.

"What am I supposed to do now?" she grumbled.

"You can burrow some of Marj's clothes for the time being," Art suggested.

"That's right!" Lina, who had been eavesdropping, suddenly poked out her head at the door of Marj's room, seconded the motion.

"But-"

"It's okay. Marj won't mind. She got spared, unused clothes and I know where she hid them." Lina continued.

"That's great!" Art commented, "Why don't you get some for your Aunt Kurapika here so that she could be ready for dinner."

"Sure. Leave it to me!"

Lina banished again into Marj's room. Kurapika looked uncomfortable about it though.

"Don't worry I'll buy you new clothes tomorrow," Art announced.

"I appreciate it. I'll just pay you back when I acquired cash," Kurapika replied conceitedly.

"No need. It was my fault anyway," Art quipped as he unlocked the door to his room.

Kurapika mused it for a moment, then something dawned on her.

"That's right!" she proclaimed suddenly in a firm tone that made Art stopped halfway through the door of his room and looked at Kurapika's direction with a raised eyebrow. The agent saw the blonde hunter walking closer towards him with a slight grin. She stopped just a foot away from Art, her eyes fixed on his.

"It was YOUR FAULT," the Kuruta repeated in a pleasant tone, not breaking the direct eye contact with the agent. The agent, on the other hand was frozen, and baffled; his eyes moved nervously in several directions, as if he was trying to figure out what was the blonde hunter going to say or do next. This rather too short distance between them, which Kurapika created herself, made the agent think. Actually, deep inside, Art concluded, that probably a turning point abruptly occurred in the Kuruta, that made her do this unusual behaviour of hers that he considered intimate. Art waited as both of them stared silently at each other. He stared back at Kurapika who was still grinning amiably at him. He was wishing that the Kuruta's next move would actually be something like that in his mind. Or was that even possible?

"And you know what?" Kurapika continued.

A grin flourished on the agent's face, "What?"

The Kuruta curled a finger at him. The agent drew his face closer to Kurapika and her knuckles met his nose.

"Ow!" Art exclaimed as he faltered backwards while both hands covered his nose, wincing from the pain he just gained. He straightened up and pressed his back against the wall, cringing from the Kuruta who advanced a step closer to him. The agent kept his hands covering his nose protectively though.

"That's for stealing kisses from me and wrecking my clothes and for this ridiculous role-playing game you involved me into," Kurapika explained in a whisper, not loud enough for Lina to hear. Art looked up and saw Kurapika still grinning, but he could feel the animosity still emanating from her.

"In fact, I should give you two more hits since you did three things to me," the blonde hunter continued, "But I'll save the rest later." Kurapika whirled and began to walk inside the room given to her and away from the agent

"Kisses?" Art inquired in a muffled voice. The blonde hunter stopped halfway through the door of her assigned room and glared at the agent, "How many kisses do you remember exactly?"

Art pulled away from the wall and tottered towards the middle of the hallway. He looked down on both of his hands and saw a tiny smear of blood on his fingers. Kurapika did make his nose bleed literally. He wiped his hands against his jeans and scowled at the Kuruta.  
"Don't tell me you're conscious when I gave you that CPR underwater?"

Kurapika looked away to hide his burning eyes and the heat on his cheeks.

"Why are you so worked up about it?" The agent added with annoyed tone. Then he froze, his eyes fluttered as if contemplating about something, then that something finally dawned on him, "Don't tell me..." a mocking grin drew on his face, "...that was your _first _kiss?"

Kurapika stirred to give the agent another blow but a voice brought her up short.

"Dad! What happened to your nose!" Lina exclaimed in horror. Some feminine clothes were hanging on her arms.

Kurapika shut her eyes tight, hiding the vivid scarlet colour of her irises. Thank god her back was facing the girl or else god knows how Lina would react if she sees her in such a state. She slowly opened her eyes again to reveal that the cerulean colour returned on her orbs.

"I'm fine sweetie, Dad just slipped, that's all," Art replied reassuringly.

"I'm sorry Aunt Kurapika," Lina said to the blonde apologetically as she approached her to reach out the clothes, "Dad is so clumsy sometimes."

"It's okay. I already know it," Kurapika smiled at Lina, taking the clothes gratefully. Before she entered to her room, she darted a sharp glare at the agent, which made him flinch. Then the door slammed shut.

Lina looked baffled about it though.

"Is she okay?" the little girl inquired.

"She's more than fine," Art replied while examining his nose. He was thankful that it was not totally broken.

* * *

Marj decided to go back to the greenhouse to continue what she was doing. She pulled several Belladonna shrubs from the soil, clipped the roots and put then in a small transparent bottle. She stood up, wiped a sweat from her forehead and sighed. She looked up and realized that it was already dark. She was not done yet though. She still needed to feed her _babies_.

* * *

Kurapika just had a bath and was now staring at the garments laid on a bed. She was hesitant whether she should wear them or not. They were obviously new, clean, and apparently, had not been used yet. Lina gave her a decent clothes-a brown trousers cut below the knee, clean underwear, a bra (Kurapika frowned on this), but the problem was the top-it was a spaghetti top.

"I can't wear this!" she complained thoughtfully with an angry swagger. But then she had no choice, had she?"

* * *

Art just had his bath, too, and was now shaving the hair that had grown dispersedly on his chin in front of the bathroom mirror, half-naked. He also shaved the almost visible beard under his nose. When he was all done, he smiled at himself, satisfied. He declared thoughtfully that he was proud of his handsome face.

* * *

Eventually, Kurapika wore what was given to her, only that she could not leave the room comfortably. She also ventured on wearing a bra, since everyone knows that she is female, there was no point of hiding it. Besides, the garment that she had been using to suppress the bulk on her upper torso was ruined already together with her former shirt. She remembered what happened back in the cave where Art slit opened her clothes when he was trying to...

Kurapika snapped to reality. She shook her head violently and patted her flushed face with both palms to clear away the mortifying memory.

Then someone knocked on her door.

"Aunt Kurapika?" Lina called, "Are you done?"

The Kuruta slowly opened the door but did not open it all the way. She just allowed an inch and peered through the opening. Lina tilted her confused head.

"Hello? Are you done?" Lina repeated while she peered back at Kurapika with perplexed expression.

"Well...sort of," was Kurapika's soft answer.

"May I come in?" Lina inquired.

The Kuruta opened the door wide enough to let Lina in then closed it gently. She did not dare ventured into exposing herself into the open yet.

Lina noticed that Kurapika did not turn on the light. It was rather dark in the room. The only illumination was a faint light coming from a lampshade settled on a small sideboard beside the bed.

Lina could not see exactly whether the clothes she gave to the blonde looked nice on her or not, since she could not see her clearly except her silhouette. She wanted to compliment her though if the clothes do look nice on her.

"Aren't you coming down for dinner?" Lina inquired finally.

"Um...well, Lina, you see, I'm not really comfortable going out..."

"Why?"

"Er...I just need one more thing you see. If you don't mind getting it for me."  
"Sure!"

Seconds later, Lina and Kurapika stepped out of the room. Kurapika was wearing a sweatshirt to cover her bare shoulder. The said garment, unfortunately, had a severed zipper, that was why she could not zipper it up to cover the almost visible cleavage that the spaghetti top practically failed to cover. She was prowling with Lina towards the stairs when Art also stepped out of his room.

"Hey!" The agent greeted both of them with a wave. Lina and Kurapika whirled to look. Immediately, Kurapika noticed that something had changed on Art. He looked younger...and more handsome. His hair was nicely combed backward with only a few short strands falling to the side of his forehead. He was wearing a clean sleeveless navy-blue shirt and a pair of old jeans with slits on the knees. In addition, the perfume from him filled the entire hallway. Kurapika failed to notice immediately that she had been gazing at the agent until she finally realized that Art was standing in front of her already, just a foot away, and was making a puzzled countenance as he stared back at the Kuruta's blank expression.

"Hello? Kurapika on earth?" Art prompted as he waved a hand in front of Kurapika's face. Finally, the blonde hunter snapped back to reality, eyes fluttered heavily, "I said, is dinner ready?"

"Er..." was Kurapika's only reply. Realizing that Art's face was too close to hers, and that a pair of those captivating sage orbs was staring closely at her, she flinched, and then her cheeks flushed faintly.

"Are you alright?" the agent inquired considerately.

"Yes. I'm fine," she answered, then she turned her back suddenly and walked away to the stairs.

Art and Lina were left standing in the hallway, confused. "Is she really okay. She's so weird, or is she always like that, Dad?" Lina asked.

The agent shrugged, "Must be because of hunger. Let's go fetch some dinner."

* * *

Everyone was seated along the dinning table-Art, Lina, Kurapika, and Art's Uncle Rudy, on the other hand, had been walking in and out of the kitchen to get the dishes and arrange them on the table.

"Where's Marj?" Art inquired.

"Aww...She's still in the greenhouse. Bet she's not done there yet." Uncle Rudy replied with a sigh.

"Still, she needed to eat on time," Art chided to no one in specific, "Lina, how about you fetch your cousin, tell her to stop working for a while and have some dinner here."

"Okay, Dad" Lina replied obediently, "Can Aunt Kurapika go with me?"

Art turned and look at the Kuruta questioningly.

"Okay, I'll go with you." Kurapika stood from her seat and Lina excitedly clung onto her arm. Art and his Uncle watched them with amusement as they stepped out to the door and walked towards the greenhouse as seen through the kitchen's windows. Suddenly, Art felt something odd. A sort of unpleasant feeling, like something bad was about to happen. He contemplated about it for a moment but failed to make it out, so he just ignored it.

The greenhouse was already lit with electronic lamps and Marj was still there and already feeling hungry. She stripped off her gloves, and the back of her left hand revealed a tattoo of eight-legged spider. Her right hand pulled out a cellphone from the right pocket of her trousers, the screen revealed the time to be 7:02 of the evening. She was probably already late for dinner, she thought.

Marj dropped the gloves on the baskets containing transparent glass bottles of plant roots, various plant juices and other undistinguishable substances. She began to walk her way towards the exit of the greenhouse carrying the basket with her, when she heard a shrill scream of a girl-it was Lina-followed by consecutive breaking sound of glass.

Alarmed, Marj dropped the basket and rushed towards where the noise came from. When she made a sharp turn, she saw a blonde young woman, with a pair of burning red orbs, trashing around with a chain, breaking the glass wall of the greenhouse in frenzy. She was devastated to see that some of her pet spiders of various species, her _babies_, were lying dead on the ground. Her own fury began to flourish within her.

Not far away from the wild Kuruta was Lina, sprawled on the ground, trembling with terror as she watched Kurapika went berserk and throw her dowsing chain at the spiders that kept falling around her in numbers.

Marj dared to run towards the blonde hunter to restrain her physically, but Kurapika only ended up catching her spider-tattooed left hand. The Kuruta slowly turned her head towards her and revealed the burning scarlet orbs up-close. The eyes were almost void of any emotion except rage. On that moment, something became cleared to Marj.

Marj could feel the pain in her wrist as Kurapika tightened her grip.

"Damn it! Let go of me!" Marj snarled. Soon she was thrown away in incredible force that she rolled several feet away after her body hit the ground.

"Shit! You'll pay for all of these, bitch!" Marj growled in a whisper. "You'll pay for hurting my _babies_!"

Abruptly, a metal ball attached to a chain flung towards her direction. Marj rolled to the side to avoid it and ended up crouching. Then quickly she set off in a run heading towards Kurapika's direction again. The blonde hunter hauled the dowsing chain and whipped it towards Marj's direction. The latter bravely used her left arm to shield her self.

The chain coiled violently around Marj's left arm. The frenzied Kuruta jerked the chain violently and Marj was thrown in mid air and was lunging towards Kurapika.

While airborne, Marj managed to pull three needles, as long and as thin as an ordinary sewing needle, from the back of her right ear, and threw them towards Kurapika, aiming to her head. Unfortunately, the vivid lustre of the said needles gave an early warning to the chained woman and she was early enough to block those needles with her left arm. The needles pierce into her flesh though.

"Got 'ya!" Marj grinned triumphantly.

In split seconds, Kurapika was abruptly surprised when her vision began to blur and her body started to feel numb. Marj was practically 3 meters above the ground and from the Kuruta when she spun in mid air and landed behind her. Then Marj gave the blonde hunter a violent kick on the spine and Kurapika was flung into the ground, practically eating dirt.

Kurapika tried to get up but the numbness of her body became worse and her sight started to dim. Marj, who was watching her with caution from behind pulled another three needles, preparing them to throw at the Kuruta if ever she was able to stand again and attack.

Gradually, the red glow of the blonde hunter's orbs faded back into cerulean colour, but emptied and void with life. Finally, Kurapika's body fell immobile on the earthy ground, then everything in her sight banished into the darkness.

...to be continued...

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**  
To be honest, I don't know what's going on in this fic anymore. (-_-)" I guess I put too much emphasis on Art and Kurapika's blossoming romance _(and it's slowing down the pace of the story towards the 'important revelation' part; and I think Kurapika is turning too OOC in here *sigh*)_ Oh well. *shrug*

Sorry for the grammar and spelling errors as usual (if there's still any)

Wew! It's hard to write when you are too distracted by projects, projects and a lot of things...*sigh* I couldn't even think of a proper title for this chapter. Hope you enjoy this chapter though.


	15. Chapter 14: With A Shade of Red

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some bad language, OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ), blood and gore.

**Note/Acknowledgement:** I would like to thank all of your reviews. They were very much appreciated. And I would also like to give my special thanks to** angelofdeath1119** for serving as my Beta Reader for this chapter. When I was writing this, I was suffering severe headache and backache to the level that I'm almost having a fever so I asked her help to reread what I wrote (for I couldn't go on anymore at that moment T.T). Anyway, keep the reviews coming. ;) Thank you.

* * *

**Chapter 14:**

**With A Shade of Red**

_There were footfalls in the dark. She could feel a force hauling her forward. There was a sound of huffing and muffled cry; but the footfalls did not stop. When she opened her eyes, everything was in a shade of red._

_ She realized that she was running, too, as soon as she saw her own feet racing over the marble tiled floor. She lifted her head, looked up, and saw her hand in a tight grip of another's. The hand was bigger than hers, older than hers. With a drowsy vision, she travelled her eyes from that hand up to the arms until she saw the owner of that limb. It was a woman with long, light-colored hair, running ahead of her, dragging her along with her, dressed in Kuruta royal attire. At first she could not remember who she was as her face was concealed, turned behind from her and that she could barely see her profile. Then the red shade of her vision faded as soon as she recognized the woman as her beloved mother. Everything gained its own colors then and she remembered that her mother had a long golden hair, just like hers._

_ Her mother turned her head to check on her, without ceasing to run. Her face revealed a very anxious and teary countenance. Her eyes were burning vividly with scarlet color, glassy and terrified. From not too far behind them, she could hear other people's footfalls. The sound of heavy steps made it obvious enough that they were pursuing them._

_ Abruptly, both of them made a sharp turn, and soon, they entered an old, cluttered chamber. The thick pile of dust covering everything in that chamber suddenly erupted in the air as they broke in. The walls marred by sickly gray and brown stains were enough evidence to distinguish that the place had been forlorn for God knows how long. There were heaps of old and damaged various possessions of the household stored in there that practically making the room look like a labyrinth. _

_ Her mother let go of her hand and crouched on a dusty floor in between the wrecked furniture. She stood behind her and watched her mother with confusion and anxiety while she tried to comprehend what precisely was going on. She was sure about one thing though, it was terribly unpleasant. _

_ There was a creaking sound. The sound of wooden trapdoors opening from the floor, and those doors revealed a secret hideaway. The next thing she knew, her mother had put her in there. She noted her mother's effort to look calm and reassuring, but she failed because of the tears that were constantly streaming down from her scarlet eyes. She saw her mother put a finger on her lips, signaling her to stay quiet. _

_ "Stay here. Don't make any sound. Whatever noise you hear, DON'T SCREAM, DON'T MAKE ANY NOISE. And don't come out not until everything is silent. Do you understand me, dear princess?" Those were the last sentences she heard from her mother before she gave her a kiss on the forehead and that was the last kiss her mother gave her. Then, the doors were shut above her. _

_Darkness filled the small room she was in and only a single thin ray of light coming from a small hole in one of those wooden doors above her cut through the heavy dimness. _

_ She sat there quietly, staring on that hole, doing her best to muffle her nervous pants. A red hue began to flicker on her orbs like red fireflies amidst the darkness. She heard her mother's footsteps moving away from her. Then the sound vanished. She was not sure if her mother stopped walking suddenly or if she had finally left the room. She waited. It was so quiet outside for almost half a minute until abruptly she heard a woman's scream!_

_ She gave out a muffled yelp. Both of her hands firmly covered her mouth to prevent her lips from betraying hiding place for making any noise that could attract the attention of whoever was there outside. Soon she felt a warm tears streaming on her cheeks, wetting her hands that were on her mouth. She trembled even more as she recognized the agonizing cry of her mother, pleading and choking. Her orbs flared completely with scarlet color; they were so bright that the luminosity of the redness almost reflected on the wet skin beneath her eyes. Then she heard her mother stop crying. She heard strangers talking. There could be two or three of them. Then, there was a splattering sound, followed by something heavy being dropped on the floor._

_BLAG!_

Silence.

_She slowly took off her hands from her mouth. Her breathing was heavy, but inaudible. She felt her skin becoming clammy with sweats and tears. For almost half a minute more she continued staring on the hole of the wooden door above her with terrified glassy, red eyes. And finally, she rose. Slowly and warily, she drew her face closer to the wooden door above her. She set one of her eyes behind the hole and peered through it. The first thing she saw were the walls splashed with crimson liquid_ _stains were fresh, so fresh that there were some streams it downward. She wanted to refuse the though that those were made of blood, but whose blood? She travelled her eyes and saw half-complete images of people in the edge of her view. Her mother was not one of them. She saw them move with heavy footsteps as if they were searching for something, sensing the presence of possible other people present in the room except them. Soon they finally came into a better view. She could see them except the face, for the sight provided by hole of the wooden door above her, was limited. Their clothes were rather soiled and a bit torn, bloodstained even, probably from some sort of battle. One of them appeared to be completely shirtless; one of his hands was soaked with blood. And the blood coating his hand was so fresh that some drops were actually dripping from it. She watched that bloody hand carefully as she noticed that it seemed to be holding something._

_Her eyes grew as wide as it could go when the fingers unfolded and revealed a pair of eyeballs with scarlet irises smeared with blood. She blanched at the sight. She wanted to scream but she bit her lips. However, she still did not draw away from the hole. She gathered all the courage she could get to continue watching, though her knees were close to giving in. The person holding the eyes turned his back and revealed a 12 legged spider tattoo with a number on it. That image immediately became curved in her mind; she would not live it down._

_Almost more than half an hour passed after those people left the room, and for almost another hour more, she was left trembling and staring at the void inside that hideaway. She was drowning in a nightmare with eyes wide open, until she recalled the horrible sight of those eyeballs in a stranger's hand, and it snapped her back to reality with a gasp._

_She examined her surroundings by listening carefully if there were people still present outside, only to be answered by a deafening silence. Slowly but warily, she opened the door and walked outside. The first thing that caught her attention was the red, stained floor. A pool of blood had clotted there, as well as the one splashed on the wall and to some wrecked possessions stored in the said room. She stood there quietly for a while trying to digest all of it. She tried to convince herself that all of those were not real, that those red stains were not made of blood._

"_Mother?" She choked; her mouth was so dry. Then she began to sniff with tears when she received no response._

"_Mother?" she repeated, making her voice a little louder. _

_Soon, she was sobbing. She bent her head down, and rubbed her teary eyes woth the back of her hand as she started to stir from her position. She foolishly stepped on the clotted pool of blood on the floor, and then she slipped and collapsed over a heap of wrecked furniture._

_For a short moment she was lying, facing down, helpless. Slowly, she pulled herself up into fours and continued to sob. Her tears were slowly blurring her vision._

_Soon, she caught sight of a blood-stained hand lying motionless just in front of her. The said hand looked familiar. She stared at it for several seconds as she recognized it. Slowly, everything was consumed in a shade of red as her orbs started to burn again. She trembled even more while her eyes gradually travelled up heading to the entire body to which the arm was connected. She almost lost her sanity when she saw her mother's face dangling upside down over the collapsed heap of scraps. Her mother stared at her with empty sockets and mouth gaping wide open, an evidence that she had been screaming terribly from the torment she had experienced. A trail of blood had clotted from her sockets down to her cheeks. Her neck was slit._

_She began to pant more heavily as she beheld the enormity in front of her with wide terrified eyes. In fact, they had grown so wide that her eyeballs looked like they would pop from their sockets soon. _

_Suddenly, everything seemed to be frozen in time. She stared blankly, the same stiff expression stuck on her countenance in a moment. Then gradually, everything started to play backwards, slowly at first like a rock rolling in the mountain and soon it went faster and faster until it reached the end of the road. She had seen her walk back to the hideaway; her mother still alive closing and unclosing the wooden door of it; she and her mother running backwards from the chamber, then in a snap, she found herself standing in the uppermost landing of the Ziggurat, body stiff and what appears before her was the blood bath._

_[ Footnote: Ziggurat-a massive structure having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. ]_

"_Kurapika! Don't look!" she heard a woman crying, "Please don't look, princess!"_

_But it was too late not to look. She had seen it all. Everything was in the shade of red. Her people, soaked in their own blood. Some were barely alive and crawling on the lower part of the steps, and these strangers who did not belong to her tribe nor to this land, pulled them up by the hair, others by the neck, practically lifting them up from the ground and with a swing of a hand or two, blood were gushing from their sockets and their eyeballs were no longer connected to them. _

"_Stop! No, please STOP!" her mind screamed but her lips were unable to utter them. It was as if her body had betrayed her by remaining frozen in her position, as if it wanted her to witness everything. Her scarlet orbs then focused on those strangers as they continued with their slaying. They have something in common. Something engraved on their skin that would occasionally unclose by the slits of their clothes but some who have no clothes on their torso at all, had fully revealed the image to her-a tattoo of a 12 legged spider, and each of those murderers have a number of their own printed on them._

_There were howling and horrible cries. She had seen few of her kin still alive, flailing wildly, and then they stopped flailing, slowly, as life fled from them. Each of them could have been her brother, or her father, or her cousins. The rest who were still on their feet, but had already acquired some fatal wound, though they knew for their selves that it was futile to fight the enemy, endeavored to block the stairway from the murderers who were heading towards her. But soon, blood was also gushing from their bodies as the strangers reached them, crimping their necks or cutting their heads off their torso and then their remains collapsed on the steps. _

_She remained frozen on her position despite the obvious fact that the enemies were already heading towards her. Her body refused to move, or could it be that subconsciously, she had already accepted that this was the terminal point of her life. _

_The enemy, whom she could not remember the face, was already just 3 meters away from her and their distance was becoming shorter and shorter, every second he climbed up the steps. Towering in his heights, he was about to deliver a blow to her when her mother appeared before her and enclosed her in a protective embrace. The blow should have been for the two of them if her father did not appear and received the blow himself._

_The last thing she knew about her father, blood was spewing from his mouth as he choked the words that told her and her mother to escape. And the image of the 12-legged spider of the murderer who gouged out her father's eyes mercilessly was something she would not live down for the rest of her life._

* * *

"Kurapika!"

She heard herself breathing heavily, or rather having difficulty breathing. She felt her body trembling and burning horribly. Her muscles were in pain She also felt the hot tears that had streamed from her eyes, the same tears that had made her cheeks felt sticky.

"Kurapika! Hang in there!"

That voice. She recognized that voice.

Her eyeslids felt heavy as she opened them halfway. She saw things blurrily and in a bright shade of red. She shut her eyes again and then endeavored to open them all the way, but everything looked blurry still. She turned her head and saw a silhouette of a person staring down at her.

"Kurapika! Hang in there, okay?" he told her reassuringly.

"Marj, hurry up and give her the antidote!" he demanded suddenly to someone standing behind against the wall behind him.

Soon her vision adjusted and became cleared. She recognized the brown-haired man yelling at the teenage girl with short orange hair.

"Feh!" Marj smirked. "Let her suffer for a whole week until the poison wears off. She won't die anyway. And besides, she deserves it!"

"MARJ!" Art yelled at her angrily.

Kurapika realized that she could not move. She was convulsing terribly and was burning with high fever.

"Uncle! She killed a lot of important specimens in my conservatory!" Marj railed back obstinately, "Does she have any idea how hard it was to acquire those specimens from different remote places? Or how hard it was to rear and breed them? Well damn it! She's lucky she's only had a taste of a Coral Snake poison. I could have injected her with neurotoxin from a Box Jellyfish if I had those needles with me and she'd probably already be dead hours ago!"

"Are you going to give her the _gawdamn_ antidote or are you going to wait for me to wipe out your remaining pet spiders or better yet, I'll demolish that greenhouse of yours for good?" Art declared forebodingly.

"You can't do that!" Marj protested as she advanced towards her Uncle with a scowl.

"Oh yes I fucking CAN!" the agent replied firmly and seriously with a glare.

Marj made a growling sound due to indignation and soon was flouncing out of the room to get the antidote.

Art returned his attention to Kurapika who was lying like a withered vegetable on the bed, breathing heavily. Her eyes were burning vividly with scarlet color and were moving restlessly in different directions.

"Kurapika can you hear me?" The agent inquired sincerely, squeezing her hand gently with his, "You're going to be alright soon."

As the agent watched Kurapika in such condition, his mind began to drift away. He remembered his wife who used to lie on a hospital bed while suffering the same way. Only that she was not really in a hospital but in a watch room of the organization's research facility. Art remembered how painful it was, that he could not enter that room, that he could only watch her suffer alone there. He wanted to be by her side, to hold her hand, and to reassure her, as much as he wanted to make her believe that everything would be alright. And he hated himself for being unable to do it.

Kurapika felt the warmth of the agent's hands against her own. She saw him clasping her hand with of his own and pressing his forehead against them. She could feel the warmth of his breath brushing against her arm. Eyes shut, Art looked like he was praying. Kurapika did not know how to react to this though. Or rather, she was too weak to manifest any reaction regarding this. She admitted to herself though, that it felt rather nice. Awkward, but nice otherwise.

"Step aside, Uncle," Marj declared as she suddenly appeared beside the agent, carrying a syringe containing a yellowish liquid in it. Art obeyed and gave way to his niece. She crouched beside the bed, raised the syringe and watched a few drops escape from its needle.

And then, Kurapika saw the eight-legged spider tattoo on the back of Marj's left hand. Her eyes burned even brightly than before. She gave Marj a sharp glare; her Scarlet orbs were practically shaking in restricted anger. Marj ignored it as she took it as one of the venom's effects on her; oblivious that the blonde hunter was reacting like that because of her tattoo. Then Kurapika started flailing, Art and Marj were alarmed as they started to hear the metallic sounds of chain. It was soon enough that they began to see the chain itself materialized on Kurapika's right hand.

In Kurapika's mind, the moment she saw the spider tattoo, the images from her recent nightmare started flashing back like a slideshow in her mind. She was practically hallucinating. She was itching to attack Marj whom she foolishly imagined as one of the Phantom Troupe that massacred her tribe.

Art immediately flung himself over the frenzied Kuruta, caught both of her hands and tried with great effort to pin them down to her sides and fought back her Nen with his Zetsu. The agent was sweating heavily since he was having a hard time holding her down.

"Hurry up Marj! I can't hold her much longer!" the agent exclaimed with a huff.

"I…I don't know if I should do it," Marj suddenly declared anxiously.

"WHAT?"

"Even if she was cured, I don't think she would stop this wild behavior. This isn't cause by the venom. It's HER! And I think if she's cured, it will be possible for her to go berserk again."

"Well, can you just give the cure and then give her a sedative afterwards? A sedative that doesn't have side effects."

"Uncle, let me remind you that I'm a poison wielder and a techie, not a doctor!"

"Whatever, just give her the _gawdamn_ antidote!"

"Do you want us to get killed by her afterwards?"

"JUST DO IT FOR PITY'S SAKE!"

"Fine, a venom against a venom," Marj declared practically in a whisper as she gave Kurapika the shot of the antidote in her arm. Then she distanced herself from the floundering blonde hunter. Just as she was about to leave the room, Art called her.

"Marj, I shall have a serious talk with you after I dealt with this," the agent declared among his huffs as he continually endeavored to hold down Kurapika.

"Gladly. Indeed, you bet we need a serious talk. If you managed to calm her down, I'll be happy to listen to your explanation about her real identity, though those red eyes of hers already gave me a lot of clues; about whether she really is your girlfriend or not and what the hell are you planning to do with her and HOW THE HELL IS SHE GOING TO MAKE UP WITH THE DAMAGES SHE CAUSED TO ME AND TO LINA," she then stormed out of the room while muttering curses under her breath but barely made out completely as Merula appeared by the door.

"Merula, where have you been?" Marj inquired only to be ignored as Merula walked past her and headed directly towards the bed where Kurapika was. The agent looked up at her as she stopped beside him, staring down at him with stoic and cold expression.

Abruptly, Art felt Merula's hand grabbing his collar and he was thrown backwards away from Kurapika. His back hit the floor and he winced horribly.

"What the HELL!" he yelled as he pulled himself into crouching position and the next thing he saw was Merula pulling Kurapika up by the collar and giving her a hard slap on the face that sent her practically rolling off the bed.

"Pull your self together. You look disgraceful. Wake up." Merula said as she looked down coldly at the blonde hunter who was lying in a muddled state at the edge of the bed, coughing blood from the wound in her lips caused by the slap.

Kurapika pulled herself into sitting position and looked up at black haired young woman with a baffled face. Her eyes had finally returned to their cerulean color as she came to.

"Marj, leave," Merula demanded Art's niece.

"WHAAAT?" Marj whined indignantly, spreading her arms in emphasis of her protest.

"If you don't want to leave, then conceal the spider tattoo at the back of your hand. Don't let Kurapika see that again" Merula added.

"Eh?"

"You heard me, if you don't want another riot starting again, then do what I told you. And you Kurapika, stay out of the green house or to any of Marj's stuff."

"Don't tell me, Kurapika reacts with spiders," Art broke in, it was more like a statement rather than a question.

"Obviously," Merula answered as she began to walk out from the room.

"How did you know?" Marj asked, "Don't tell me you were just out there watching everything."

"And it surprises me that despite everything that occurred, you did not figure out about it," Merula remarked rather disapprovingly.

"Why are you blaming me?" Marj pouted, "It's Uncle's fault. He's Kurapika's boyfriend anyway. Well, Uncle, how come you didn't know about it?"

Kurapika felt awkward suddenly as she heard Marj mentioned Art as her boyfriend, but soon she remembered everything-the pretending game, how she ended up in such a place and why. She was like an amnesiac patient that had suddenly recovered all her lost memory by hearing the word 'boyfriend'.

Art saw Merula raised an eyebrow at him and so he got up from sprawling on the floor. He tottered painfully as he rubbed his aching back.

"Kurapika, is that true?" Art asked Kurapika.

"Yes. Whenever I see a spider, real one or just any image of it, everything in my sight turns red. My personality changes and I enter into frenzy." Kurapika explained as she pressed her palm against her forehead, with a slight pained expression.

"I can't blame you though. That's quite understandable since you're a Kuruta," Art said.

"STILL!" Marj broke in angrily and pointed a finger at the blonde hunter, "That doesn't change the fact that you created a grand damage to my conservatory, and that you killed a good number of specimen in there. I won't accept any excuse nor apology from you. You'll have to compensate for it one way or another! And one more important thing, what are you going to do with Lina whom you caused a trauma big time?"

"Lina?" Kurapika repeated, her countenance reflecting compunction.

"Yeah, Lina! My poor cousin. After that irrational frenzy of yours, she had been crying and trembling non-stop in my room." Marj then turned to her Uncle and started railing at him, too, "And you, Uncle, it was entirely your fault, not only you should have stopped your girlfriend from coming to my greenhouse yesterday, but you shouldn't have brought her here at all. You know very well about Lina's phobia with the red eyes! And to think that you would take a Kuruta as your girlfriend? Have you gone bonkers?"

"Sssshh…Lower your voice, Lina might hear you," Art chided, only to see that Marj was glowering at him with wide, intimidating green eyes that implied the phrase 'you've got to be kidding me'.

"Don't look at me like that!" The agent scolded in almost a whisper, and a glare, "I'm still your Uncle!"

Marj eyes rolled. Then, she raised both of her hands as if surrendering. She held the syringe between her fingers in her right hand, "Fine. Uncle. But yeah, let's have a serious talk later," and then Marj made a motion to walk out of the room; but abruptly, she whirled and walked back, pointed an accusing finger at Kurapika derisively.

"But you are still so going to pay for the damage in my greenhouse," she told her, and then she stormed out and vanished out of everyone's sight.

Art saw Merula staring at him almost meaningfully.

"WHAT?" Art inquired rather irately. Merula only shrugged and then left the room as well.

The agent gave out a disappointed sigh and sat at the edge of the bed. Kurapika on the other hand was sitting like a scolded child just a couple of feet away from him. Her knees folded next to her chest, her arms wrapped around them.

"How bad was it?" Kurapika inquired timidly, "The damage that is."

"You mean, you don't remember?"

"The memory was vague."

"I see," Art commented with a couple of nods, "Naaah, don't worry about it. Leave it to me. Like Marj said, it was entirely my fault. I should have known you have such issues about spiders. I mean I should have realized it earlier since I know your history very well."

Kurapika shut her eyes tight the moment she heard the word 'spiders'.

"No. I should take responsibility for it. I promise, no matter how much the compensation is, I'll pay for it as soon I could use my Hunter's Card again."

"Told you, didn't I? You don't have to pay me back with money. Just continue working the favor that I asked you."

Kurapika raised her head with a frown, "But we are caught already."

"Marj caught us, yes. But Lina…"

"But Marj said…"

"She's still a little girl. You can gain back her trust sooner than you think. Trust me."

Kurapika's eyes fluttered, her eyeballs moving with uneasiness and confusion, "Why are we doing this again?"

"You'll understand soon enough," Art replied with an assuring look. Then, he diverted topics. "Anyway, have you eaten? As much as I could remember, you weren't able to join us in dinner last night before you've gone loco. Alright then…" the agent stood up, walked and stopped by the door shortly. "...Wait here. I'll get you something to eat. You need to have energy so you can prepare yourself tomorrow."

"Prepare myself for what?" Kurapika mused as she disentangled herself from her tight sitting position.

Art gave her his sweetest smile, "We're going downtown. We're going shopping."

…to be continued…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Oh well, there you go. Since I made a promise, well, not really a promise but sort of a promise that I will update this fanfic this weekend so there you go. _**[***kamot ulo***]**_. It's now or never. You have no idea about my suffering while I'm writing this fic. Besides the extreme headache, backache, fatigue, and a little fever, I was suffering a writer's block. Writer's block to the point where it was really hard to write the scenes where nightmares and reality collide in one's vision. Something like the story was being told in the third person point of view yet you wanted it to appear like the event is happening in one person's view only. A view where you told the story in one's dream…you know like in a movie, when a person was dreaming and everything was like happening in a tv screen where the camera was the eyes of the person dreaming. Did you get what I mean?

Moreover, you see I'm getting used to script form of writing, like those done for making comic pages, (I'm a comic artist after all *shrug*) where what was written was more like describing everything, lots of verbs, more of describing the physical countenance of the character/s instead of writing the feelings and emotions inside (though I have a bit of them here but not much like the others), etc..etc..And I just realized one thing-writing a chapter of fanfic is more exhausting and harder than drawing 2-3 pages of manga and 4-5 linearts of sketch cards (with western drawing style) a day. And as usual, I only got 1-2 days to write a chapter in a weekend, probably every once or twice a month. I could not spend time on this during weekdays because weekdays are meant for my real work and I dislike going against my schedule ^^'

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.


	16. Chapter 15: Lina

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning**_:_ Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P )

**Note:** Please review….Any corrections to grammar, spelling, typo errors are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. ^^

* * *

**Chapter 15:**

**Lina**

It had a size and shape of a fly. In fact, it was indeed closely identical to a fly, except that it was not actually a real live insect. Every part of it was made of stainless metal and other synthetic material, ingeniously and carefully assembled to imitate the anatomy of a real insect and to function like one.

There was six more of it that lay motionlessly and silently on a couple of Petri dishes resting on a desk, surrounded by various tools and apparatuses for nanotechnology. Mr. Mata bent down and drew his face towards those tiny machines, and carefully and closely observed them with mad excitement using an eye scope.

You see, Mr. Mata, was one of the geniuses that the 'organization' had acquired to work for them. He was the one who invented these little robots. And now, seeing the grin on his face as he stared closely at them, it seemed that he had succeeded on polishing these inventions, and he was sure of it.

He sat in front of his laptop that had been patiently waiting for him on his desk for almost half an hour. There was a menu bar hanging on its screen that showed two kinds of buttons-an 'okay' and a 'cancel' button- asking if the program should activate now. Mr. Mata was more than excited to move the mouse cursor and press the 'okay' button. And when he did, the eyes of his inventions began to glow brightly with blue light; their head tilted as if examining their environment as they had seen it for the first time. They started to crawl like real bugs at first, then their wings began to flap rapidly and they hovered in the mid air. A dozen of computer screens hanging over the desk of Mr. Mata's fellow workers turned on and revealed videos of the research facility of the same room in different angles and perspective. The camera in those tiny machines would zoom in and identify the faces of the people present in there, while providing labels and captions of information of everything and everyone they caught in their sight, and such images would appear on those computer monitors. Mr. Mata's co-workers in lab coats, just like him, who operated those computers had approved that every camera on those insect- shape machines were working properly according to its program and were properly controlled.

Soon, those tiny robots were flying away from a huge industrial building that was established in a small isolated island. Mr. Mata was expecting highly that within more or less 48 hours, his inventions would give them some results about the current whereabouts of their targets-Black Riding Hood, the last Kuruta survivor, and the freshly renowned traitor in the 'organization', Art.

* * *

Marj yawned as she walked into the bar area of the house, carrying a tray of transparent glass bottles. Each lid of those bottles was punched with holes in order to let the air in, so that the living specimens (which were mostly various species of spiders) inside each of those bottles, could breathe. She set the tray on the wooden counter of the bar. The diamond pendant swung lively under her neck, next to crescent-shape hematite stone as she bent down. Next to it laid a piece of cloth. She looked up at the clockworks hanging on the wall. It said 10:03 a.m. Marj gave out another yawn. Beads of tears edged on her eyes.

Suddenly, she heard footfalls coming. The moment she saw that it was Kurapika, she instantly covered the tray with the cloth, to conceal the spiders from the Kuruta's sight.

Awkward silence instantly dominated the atmosphere the moment they laid eyes on each other. Kurapika stopped more than a couple of meters away from Marj, feeling awkward and compunctious about yesterday's event.

"G-good morning," Kurapika greeted hesitantly but without cheer.

"Nothing really good about today's morning if you ask me," Marj answered sarcastically. Then she walked around the side of the counter and sat behind it and flipped open her laptop. The blonde hunter knew instantly that Marj was still mad at her.

"I resolve to make it up to you," the blonde hunter walked cautiously closer to Marj along the wooden counter, "Maybe not now but I guarantee that I will someday," Kurapika declared convincingly but barely apologetically.

Marj snorted without looking up, "Feh! Really? How? Like you're gonna catch some poisonous spiders for me?" Marj lifted her head and stared mockingly at the blonde hunter who was now standing just a meter away from her along the counter, but keeping a good distance between her and the cloth-covered tray. Soon, the blonde hunter looked really apologetic.

Then, Kurapika shut her eyes tight as she took a deep breath, then she opened them again to reveal a determined countenance.

"If that's what pleases you, I will. As soon as I could put my Hunter's License Card to use, I will seek a good enterprise that would deliver the specimens that will replace the ones that you've lost," she proposed as she showed her Hunter's License in her hand.

"Hmmmm….fair enough. Although I was just going to forgive and forget everything that occurred yesterday since Uncle made an offer last night to make up for you. But your offer sounds more tempting," Marj grinned mischievously as she rested her back on the swivel chair, her hands steeple under her chin.

"It's still hard to accept though…," Marj wagged her left hand that wore a fingerless, leather glove, "…that I have to make some adjustments in my own territory. It never really happens until you came."

"I am…really sorry to hear that. I-," something caught Kurapika's attention abruptly by the corner of her eye. It was Lina, peering behind the entrance door. She looked a bit scared, but not terrified unlike before, curious even, as if she had seen Kurapika again for the first time as stranger, a stranger she could not trust. Suddenly, Lina whirled and walked away hurriedly from the door. Soon, she was running on an earthly slope and heading to the beach not too distant from the house. Kurapika watched her as her image slowly vanished from her sight through the doors and windows.

"Last night she was trembling. Almost traumatic. It was like her nightmare came to haunt her again. Poor girl," Marj stated with a softer voice and a slightly saddened face.

Kurapika returned her gaze to Marj. She moved a little closer to her. Her countenance now looked disturbed.

"You mentioned that Lina has a phobia with red eyes. Why is it so?" Kurapika inquired seriously.

Marj leaned forward and folded down the screen of her laptop, settled her elbows on the counter, and looked back up at the blonde hunter gravely.

"Yes," Marj answered, "Indeed she has. Well, I saw it, too. You see Kurapika, this is a rural place, a province where most people still live in old-fashioned ways, still carry the traditional beliefs and cultures. Superstitions here….are rampant," Marj stopped shortly to take a breath.

"It happened more than 5 years ago," Marj continued, "There was a temporary brown out that night. It was dark. We had to open most of the windows of the house to let the natural ventilation in and the weak light provided by the full moon. We were just sitting here, waiting for the drowsiness to take over us.

"Suddenly, we saw a shadow of a bird. Something bigger than a dove. It was probably an owl. From the door, it flew in there," Marj pointed a finger at the chandelier hanging on the ceiling just above them, "And well, you see…Lina loves birds," Marj let her shoulders sagged, "Because of the curiosity of a kid, she approached the bird perched on the chandelier with full of confidence. She stared at the shadow for seconds, and walked closer until she was practically under it, hoping to get its attention and probably its trust, too. Oh well, you know kids, especially a five year-old one-they thought all animals are cute and cuddly at first-until the bird finally turned its head and glared down at Lina with big, wide, blood-shot eyes. Trully, it scared the soul out of my poor little cousin that she went screaming hysterically as she run to me. I could feel the tremors in her body as I hugged her. Minutes later, I saw the owl flew away through the door, leaving me stunned and my poor cousin traumatic.

"Ever since then, whenever Lina saw red eyes or anything that closely resembles them, she would go hyperventilating, breaking down, trembling or scurrying away in fear, would shut herself in her room or would sulk or hide in one corner and cry." Marj looked up at Kurapika accusingly.

"And there was one more thing," Marj pointed a finger as emphasis, "The next morning after that horrifying night. Lina found her white pet dove dead in its bird house. Not only my cousin's pet but also almost all of our poultry were wiped out! It couldn't have gotten any weirder if some of the trees and plants around our house suddenly died, too-they just….. started withering in three days until they had gone complete done for.

"You see, Kurapika, that red-eyed bird, red-eyed animals, or any red-eyed creatures here in this province, people consider them as unearthly creatures. They consider them something like _aswang_-a shape-shifting evil creature that fed on people's flesh and blood during the night. They believe that….red eyes are trickster's eyes; the eyes of a demon. So if I were you," Marj tilted her head. A rather sinister grin flourished on her face as she raised a mocking eyebrow at Kurapika, "I won't go out from here having that kind of eye color if you don't want the residents to stone you to death."

Kurapika was stiff. Probably petrified by all the things she heard.

"MARJ!"

Both heads turned to see Art storming from the stairs with a direct scowl at his niece.

"What the HELL are you saying to Kurapika?" Art railed at Marj.

"Nothing," Marj said sheepishly as she looked away, playing innocent of the crime, "It's true though. People will freak out if they see Kurapika's eyes glow red, not to mention that the enemy will easily track her down if the knowledge spread out."

The agent looked at Kurapika, then back to Marj with a mild frown.

"You have a point there," Art agreed. His anger abated, "Then we'll buy some contact lenses from down town later." Then he ambled to the kitchen.

"Kurapika! Dinner!" the agent called out at the Kuruta. Slowly, she stirred from her position and headed quietly to the kitchen, still carrying a baffled expression. She was probably having a hard time digesting all that she heard from Marj. Marj, on the other hand, was quite amused watching everything, most especially the blonde hunter's expression. She put her hand over her nose to conceal her smirk and chuckled after the Kuruta was out of sight. Marj had no idea why she felt so evil that day.

* * *

That afternoon, Merula saw Kurapika and Art, as she sat on the wooden railings of the veranda in second floor, stepped out of the house, walked towards the bamboo gate and stopped there. They seemed to be arguing about something.

"I just can't believe it!" Kurapika declared irately with a swagger, "That there are people who would despise the red eyes…To think that…The red eyes of our people is one of the 7 wonders of the world-"

Kurapika was cut off by the agent's sudden hysterical laughter.

"What's so funny!" The blonde hunter shot him a sharp glare.

The agent barely ceased from his laughter as he struggled to let out the words.

"Hahaha…It's either…hehe…you…or your pride," Art chuckled as he shook his head. His countenance could barely contain the hilarity.

"Are you mocking me?" Kurapika practically yelled indignantly at the amused agent, her arms crossed in her middle.

Art took a deep breath so he could pull himself together. He coughed a couple of times before facing Kurapika properly.

"Look, sweetie, be-"

"What….did you just call me?"

"We're still in the pretending game, aren't we?"

"But it's just the two of us here, and Lina's not even here!"

"But my Uncle…might here us," Art leaned forward and cupped one side of his mouth and whispered to Kurapika, "He doesn't really know everything."

Kurapika made an akimbo, tilted her head and glowered at Art even more. She opened her mouth but not a word came out. She shook her head silently in annoyance instead.

"Anyway, as I was saying," the agent proceeded, "Be more open-minded, just so you know people came in different convictions and cultures just like how they come in different shapes and sizes. They even vary in opinions about beauty and ugliness. It is inevitable that there are things that are loved by some people but are despised by others. And I don't think we have the right to force others to change their opinion just because it doesn't reach our personal standards. Isn't that supposedly part of a common sense?"

Kurapika was taken aback and had fallen silent. Not only because of what Art said, but also by the fact that such judicious comment would actually come out from the mouth of someone like him. When the agent saw the blonde hunter gaping at him with wide eyes, he grinned, and walked closer to her.

"Don't worry about it, dear," Art said enticingly as he dared put a hand around Kurapika's waist which gave the blonde hunter a shiver; her cheeks flush hotly, "I've talked to Lina last night," Art pulled Kurapika to walk along with him without taking his hand off her waist. In fact, the Kuruta felt that the agent's hand was crawling lower and it made a nerve swell on her temple. Kurapika started to use Ko to counter the agent's Zetsu just in case he was doing it again, "I think she have forgiven you already. And as for what Marj told you, she was just bluffing-Aaaaaarrrrrrggghhh! Ow!"

Before Art could finish his sentence, Kurapika had caught his hand, flipped his arm and the next thing he knew, everything was turning over and soon he was sitting on the bushes, wincing in pain. He could feel twigs pricking his butt.

"I think you should learn to put your hands in proper places, mister!" Kurapika reprimanded as she stared down at the agent with her arms crossed in her chest.

Art looked back up at the blonde hunter with uncomfortable expression, yet he still managed to draw a grin.

"I'll keep that in mind from now on, ma'am," he quipped, "Now, can you give me a hand?"

Kurapika reluctantly reached out her hand to Art. The agent grabbed onto it. Suddenly a mischievous grin drew on his face. Kurapika gave out a yelp when the agent suddenly pulled her down. Her body dropped on top of him. When she pulled herself away, she ended up stooping over the agent in fours and found her face just centimeters away from the agent's; her eyes staring so closely at Art's charming sage orbs. The Kuruta did not notice her own to flicker with scarlet colors, until it burned completely with faint scarlet color. Her cheeks could have had the same shade.

Art beamed victoriously, "Got 'ya! Haha…" But then gradually, the smile faded as mortification took over him, too. His cheeks blushed faintly as he stared back at the blonde hunter's baffled, but lovely scarlet eyes. For a moment, he thought he had seen her looked so innocent yet so fair. Soon, he realized the obvious evidence that the scarlet eyes were indeed as beautiful as the sunset. And they were most beautiful if someone like Kurapika possessed them.

Then, Kurapika's eyes moved uneasily in different direction, avoiding the solid gaze of the agent.

"This is silly," she commented almost laughingly and attempted to stand up only to be brought up short when a hand grabbed her wrist and kept her in her position.

"Kurapika," the agent commented suddenly with admiration, "You're eyes are really beautiful. Indeed, they suit you….and I think… no one else will suit them…other than you," Art, probably unconsciously, moved his hand towards Kurapika's cheek and his thumb delicately stroked the soft skin under her eye. Kurapika on the other hand, perhaps too flabbergasted by the agent's unusual behavior, just froze in her position.

Art's countenance had changed indeed. He looked at her with seriousness in a rather unusual level-benevolent, pleading even-and Kurapika could not help to be fascinated by it.

"After you managed to retrieve all the eyes of your people, what are you…planning to do after that?" Art inquired rather nervously as if he was already expecting an unpleasant answer.

Kurapika heard one of the hardest questions she had been asking herself, too, for a long time. Only this time, it came from someone else's lips. She looked away from Art, as if to hide her pained expression (which probably indicated that she did not know the answer to such question yet) and probably, to hide the color of her eyes as well, after she realized they were glowing brightly with scarlet hue. She did not like the thought of the agent noting the implication that she was pouring emotions this close with him, most especially because of the behavior he was showing towards her.

"Why…why are you…" she stammered softly, as she looked back, somewhat, guiltily, on Art's captivating sage orbs. She gradually noticed that those orbs hid some pain in them. Kurapika could feel her heart shrink because of it, "…why are you asking me this….so suddenly?"

"Kurapika…I…you see…" soon, Art was the one stammering, "I..I think I…..li…."

The blonde hunter noted that Art's eyes moved downward; the agent blushed hotly afterwards then looked away. Kurapika looked down as well. Soon, she realized it with utmost horror and instantly her face turned as red as a tomato.

"You….are..the WORST!" Kurapika screamed angrily and then she rammed her fist into the agent's face, and such intimate moment was instantly ruined just like that.

"Ow!" Art's cry echoed through the woods nearby, "How come it always has to be the nose!"

Soon, the agent saw the blonde hunter flouncing away, leaving him still stuck in the bush. Art winced as he cupped his nose with both hands.

"Feh! Women," Art spat contemptuously. But he could not deny the fact that he did have a good glimpse of Kurapika's cleavage, and that was enough for a smile to flourish on his face.

"Hey, Art!" Merula, who had been watching everything, called the agent from above. Art, who was fanning his aching nose with his hands, looked up at her, "Touché!"

"Shut up, Merula!" Art retorted as he pulled himself up. The agent thought that she could have been hooting with laughter now, but she did not. Instead, she saw her looked away and rested her head on the pillar, wearing the same impassive expression. Art was sure though, that Merula was laughing at him deep inside.

"He got the nerve!" Kurapika grumbled as she flounder down the path she saw Lina had taken, "That pervert! I can't believe I actually…Aaaaarrrrgghhh!" the Kuruta swung her arms angrily as she reached the sandy ground of the beach. She was brought up short when she saw the stunning view of the beach-white sand, clear water, a beautiful blue horizon. She could almost see the corals from beneath the seawater from a fair distance. And not too far away, she saw a little blonde girl crouching on the sand, playing alone.

Instantly, the recent anger faded in here and replaced by resolve and concern. Kurapika gathered all the courage to approach the girl. She took off her slippers and walked warily, barefooted, towards Lina.

Lina, who was trying to build a sand castle, immediately saw her coming. She should have been running away from her now, but she did not. She just watched her walk towards her with wary eyes until she was standing just a couple of feet next to her.

Two pairs of green and cerulean eyes stared quietly at each other for a short moment until Kurapika was the one to break the silence first.

"Hi," the blode hunter smiled at the girl who never took off her hands away from the bulk of sand next to her feet, "What are you doing?"

Lina looked back down at her supposed-to-be sandcastle and patted it with her sand-covered hands. For a long moment of silence, the Kuruta thought Lina would not answer her which indicated that she still carry the animosity against her, Lina looked up at her again, this time, with a softer countenance.

"I'm building a sandcastle," Lina answered innocently, "Turns out, it doesn't look like one though," she pouted as she looked back at her sand piece for the third time.

Kurapika was relieved to hear such answer. She thought she would drive her to go away, or something like that. Then the blonde hunter crouched next to her.

"Do you want me to help you?" Kurapika offered kindly.

"Are you good at it?" Lina inquired as she tilted her head.

Kurapika's smile grew wider, "Let's just see…" and her hands began to work on the bulk of sand.

A couple of minutes later, the sand miniature ended up something that did not even resemble a castle and both Kurapika and Lina looked disappointed about it.

"I guess," Kurapika heaved a disappointed sigh, "I AM not really good at this."

"Tell me about it!" Lina agreed, "You suck just like me."

There was a short moment of silence, followed by the sound of laughter. Then, there was silence again.

"Lina, I'm really sorry if I scared you yesterday," Kurapika suddenly brought up, "I never meant to hurt you or anyone in your family, really," she said it with complete honestly and seriousness. She really meant what she said.

"I know," Lina answered, raising both innocent eyebrows as emphasis, "Dad explained everything to me last night. I've already forgiven you. But please, don't make your eyes glow red again. They…." Lina stopped for a moment and hawked nervously, "…still scared me."

Kurapika nodded, "I…I understand."

"So.." Lina tilted her head as she looked up at Kurapika questioningly, changing the subject, "Are you going to live with us from now on?"

Kurapika was caught off guard by the question. She draw a nervous grin, "I'm sorry, but…I don't think so."

"Why not?" Lina asked disappointedly, "You're going to be my new mother, right?"

"Lina, would you mind telling me….when was the last time you saw your mother? Your real mother?" Kurapika threw back the question rather warily.

Lina pressed her lips together and her eyes blinked as if she was trying to solve a Math problem in her head.

"I can't really remember," Lina watched her own finger drew circles on the sand next to her feet. She leaned her chin over her folded knees and continued to speak, "I've never really see her except in photographs. Dad said that she had to be away when I was just one year old. He said, she was sick, and soon I learned that she won't be coming back ever. Then, Merula came, and ever since then, Dad always disappears. He only comes back with Merula once or twice every three months or longer."

Kurapika's heart began to hurt as she heard Lina continued to talk. She could feel the loneliness and longing of this little girl for her parents. Then Lina lifted her head, this time, a deeper curiosity had flourished on her countenance as she looked back up at Kurapika. Curious and innocent, but not sad.

"Aunt Kurapika? You have a mother, too, right?" Lina inquired suddenly, "What does it feel like…to have a mother?"

Kurapika did not answer Lina's question, instead, she pulled her close to her and encased her in a tight embrace. She stroked her head softly and caringly as she struggled to restrain the tears edging in her eyes which now flickered with scarlet hue. Then she shut them tight and a single tear stream down her cheek.

Kurapika remembered her own mother. She remembered clearly her face, her warm embrace and kisses when she was still alive; her smile, her kindness, her gentle voice. She realized in that moment how lucky she was for having such precious memories of her-memories that Lina should have had, too.

Lina, on the other hand, was confused by the Kuruta's sudden behavior. She admitted though that her embrace felt nice and warm yet somehow different from her Dad's. Soon, she, too, wrapped her delicate arms around Kurapika and buried her face in her shoulder, eyes close, and inhaled.

"Aunt Kurapika," Lina whispered, her breath brushed against the skin of the Kuruta's neck. Kurapika opened her eyes, they looked glassy, yet cerulean color had already returned on them, "You smell…nice. This must….be how mothers smell like, don't they?"

The two remained like that for several seconds more. When Kurapika pulled away, she immediately wiped away the tears that edge on her eyes and the wetness on her cheeks, and give Lina her sweetest smile.

"Are you crying, Aunt Kurapika?"

Kurapika just shook her head.

"Oh…okay," Lina shrugged.

Suddenly, something dawned at the Kuruta.

"Lina, do you know Merula?" Kurapika asked suddenly.

"I only see her when Dad's around."

"I see. What do you know about her?"

"Hmmm….." Lina put a finger on her chin as she thought it over, and then she pouted, "Well, I think she's a weirdo. She doesn't talk to me much or to grandpa. She only talks to Dad and Ate Marj and she doesn't like people getting too near her. She likes high places and I think she can fly. She's probably a bird woman."

_[Ate-is the honorific used in the Philippines to call by the younger people to their older sisters or to older female people unrelated to them but not as old as their parents and grandparents]_

Kurapika managed to grin on Lina's latter comment, "Really? Why do you think so?"

"Because I see her flying from tree to tree and I always see her resting on roofs or on the veranda in the second floor of the house. I never really saw her use the entrance door on the ground floor. How can a person go to such places if she can't fly, right?"

Kurapika chuckled slightly on this.

"I think she's nice though. Because if she isn't, she would not be Dad's and Marj's friend, right? And one time, she told me a story." Lina recalled that day, probably 2 years ago when she was in veranda of the second floor. Merula was slumped on a tree branch more or less 3 meters away from her. The little girl would not stop bugging Merula to talk, until she managed to convince her to tell her a fairy tale. Merula told her the story about Rapunzel, a golden haired princess locked up in a tower.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Lina declaimed dramatically, portraying the role of the said character with matching gestures and expression as she shuffled her feet on the sand. Then she stopped suddenly and looked at Kurapika with a sagged shoulder, "Merula wasn't really a good story-teller. Her face is boring and her voice is always flat. Since then I did not bother her talking to her."

"What does Merula usually talk with your Dad and Marj about?" Kurapika inquired again.

"I'm not really surem but I think Merula is sick," Lina added suddenly. She turned her head and stared at the far horizon of the blue ocean. The clouds were thick enough to block the hot ray of the sun and provide a cool shade to everything beneath them, "I often saw her taking these injection thingies with green liquid in them from Ate Marj. One time I peeked into her room and saw her injecting them to herself. It must be a medicine for her to calm the snakes inside her body."

"Snakes?" Kurapika frowned.

"Ssssshhhh….." Lina squelched, putting a finger on her mouth as she moved closer to Kurapika so that she could just whisper it to her, "Don't tell anyone I saw it okay? Especially to Dad. Merula got snakes inside her body. I bet she used them to scare her enemies away."

Kurapika suddenly looked troubled, a bit frightened even as she imagine Lina's description. There was something about Merula she was beginning to be curious about. Something Art had not told her yet. And of course, it concerns her since the organization was after her and Merula, too. And it involves the Kuruta eyes either.

"Hey! You coming Blondie?" Art's voice echoed from the distance as he stood from the base of the sloping path that connected to the beach and the house.

"Hey Lina," Kurapika smiled at the girl, "Wanna come with us?"

"Where are we going?" Lina asked. Her eyes sparkled in excitement.

"We're going down town," she answered, "We're going shopping."

…to be continued.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Sorry, I couldn't think of a proper title for this Chapter ^^'

Oh well, hope you enjoy this though.

Happy holidays! =)


	17. Chapter 16: Realization

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some cursing…Set in AU.

**Note:** Please review….Sorry for some grammer, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**Realization**

"What are those?" Art inquired rather irately to Kurapika who just came out from the fitting room of a clothes shop. She was wearing a loose, blue, long-sleeve shirt with tangerine hems and buttons, white trousers with matching flat shoes. All in all, the whole ensemble looked closely to Kuruta fashion style, which the agent greatly disapproved at the moment.

"They are called clothes, Art," Kurapika answered defensively, as she stepped off the platform of the fitting room, behaving proud in those clothes. If she had not been wearing black contact lenses which she and Art bought an hour ago, she could have scared other customers away by her eyes which began to flicker with scarlet color because of annoyance from the agent's remark.

Art shook his head in disapproval.

"Wait here," Art said and walked away. A minute later, he came back with a frilly fabric and something which appeared like a form-fitting T-shirt for women, dangling from his hand. He tossed them over to Kurapika and the Kuruta caught them reflexively.

"Let me see those on you," Art dictated.

Kurapika stretched the frilly fabric in front of her and stared at it with a deep frown. It was a frilly skirt and possibly just knee length for her.

"What? I'm not wearing this!" She whined, then she spread the t-shirt over her torso and noted that it will be too small for her, or at least something that will make her curves too obvious and she did not like such idea, "…nor this!"

"Do it, because I ain't paying those that you're wearing right now," Art announced firmly and crossed his arms over his chest with a scowl.

"Why you…You're just a big PERVERT, aren't YOU?" Kurapika railed rather loudly that made the other costumers looked at their direction. Art looked back at them with a nod and a grin.

"Sorry folks, my girlfriend here is rather too conservative." Art announced at them, loud enough for everyone around him and Kurapika to hear. The blonde hunter cringed in embarrassment when she heard the agent announced boldly and publicly that she was _his_ _girlfriend_. Though she wondered why she had to be embarrassed despite the fact that she knew that this girlfriend-boyfriend thing was just a pretend for pity's sake!

"She's from a native tribe you see and I'm just teaching her how to wear modern clothes and those that…" the agent continued as he turned back at Kurapika and gave her a meaningful look, or rather, a meaningful glare to emphasize his next phrase, "..will FIT THE CURRENT TREND SO SHE COULD BLEND AROUND HERE AND WON'T LOOK WEIRD!"

Some costumers began to ignore them and proceed to their own business then.

"THIS isn't exactly the compensation I want." Kurapika declared angrily in a lower voice to avoid further attention from other people.

"Too bad, I chose to give my compensation MY WAY," Art replied sarcastically with an arrogant smirk.

Kurapika's eyes rolled and heaved an indignant sigh. Defeated, she was compelled to go back inside the fitting room and try out the clothes that Art had handed over to her. While she was there, Lina appeared beside his father, wearing a frilly floral dress and a tight trousers for girls underneath it. She was accompanied by a sales lady. Lina was frowning though, looking uncomfortable.

"Looks good on you sweetie," Art complimented.

"I dunno, Daddy. It feels weird," Lina whined. Art thanked the saleslady and told her that she did a good job finding clothes for Lina. Then he whispered something to her, then saleslady nodded and left.

Art crouched in front of his daughter, patted her shoulders and looked at her reassuringly.

"Lina," Art began, "From now on, you should get used to wearing clothes like this. After all, girls like you should be wearing dresses, not loose t-shirts, shorts and caps…Those are for boys."

Lina gave her father a sour face as an answer as if she does not believe what her father was telling her.

"You'll get use to it soon." Art said and he patted her daughter on the head, "Smile. If you keep a face like that, you'll get ugly." Lina forced a smile on her face then.

Art stood up and stared at the curtains of the fitting room suspiciously. He and Lina waited for 3 minutes, until Art realized that 3 minutes were quite too long for Kurapika to put those skirt and t-shirt on herself.

"Kurapika? Are you okay?" Art called to the fitting room.

Meanwhile, Kurapika was looking at herself in the mirror, looking anxious and uncertain about the form-fitting t-shirt and the frilly skirt she was wearing now.

"Do you need some help?" Art inquired from outside.

"NO!" Kurapika replied firmly, "I'm fine."

She gathered all her courage and took a deep breath before she turned around, pushed the curtains and stepped out.

For a short moment, Art almost gaped when he saw Kurapika, but his hand was early enough to conceal his mouth. The t-shirt did show off her curves and slender figure and made her small breast manifest. Thus, it was proven that indeed, she was a female, a woman. He also noted her beautiful legs under that knee length skirt. Not to mention that he had confirmed, since the t-shirt showed up Kurapika's slender arms, that the blonde hunter got such a beautiful, flawless skin.

"Not bad," Art said approvingly with some nods, though he struggled to restrain himself from grinning. And before he betrayed himself he turned his back and looked down at Lina.

"See that sweetie? Your Aunt Kurapika wears feminine clothes. You should be like her. Girls SHOULD be like that anyway," Art explained to her daughter. Kurapika's eyes rolled again. She knew that it was more like an insinuation to her by the agent as if to imply that since Lina was looking up at her (as a mother), she should show her how to dress properly.

The saleslady reappeared again just in time and handed over a new set of feminine garments to Art.

"Here, try some of these, too. Look at them if they will fit you," Art reached out the clothes to Kurapika. She took them reluctantly.

An hour later, Art, Lina and Kurapika were walking in the street, carrying several shopping bags. Lina kept on looking down on the frilly hem of her skirt and was occasionally distracted by it. Kurapika, on the other hand, would often brush down her skirt, worried that if a strong wind suddenly blew at them, her skirt might lift up and God knows what kind of embarrassment she might get because of it.

* * *

The three stopped shortly at the nearest fast-food restaurant. Lina ate faster than her father and Kurapika, or probably, she hurried to finish her burger and juice so she could join the other kids on the kiddie playground inside the restaurant, which granted Art and Kurapika a chance for private conversation.

"So…Kurapika," Art began shyly as he played his fingers on the straw of his soft drink, "Do you have a….boyfriend? You know…a real one?"

Kurapika looked up at the agent and looked away immediately after her eyes met his sage orbs and she knew they stared at her so intently. She noted that it was becoming more and more often that she felt awkward whenever Art looked t at her like that. She watched her own fingers began to play the straw of her juice then.

"I got friends. I met them in the hunter exam," Kurapika recalled the images of her friends in her head-Gon, Killua, and she suddenly, she heaved a sigh when she recalled Leorio.

"I guess I'll take it that you're currently single then," Art looked down and smiled shyly. Actually, his smile was more like as if he had heard a good news.

"Are you planning to have one?" the agent asked.

Kurapika gaped and her eyes suddenly began to move uneasily in different direction, except to Art's direction. She avoided another eye contact with Art since it started to dawn on her that the agent's questions were rather meaningful.

Kurapika shut her eyes tight and began to giggle softly.

Art was taken aback.

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm getting too nosy eh?," the agent said apologetically. Kurapika ventured to look up and laughed even more when she saw the agent blushing. She could not believe that the agent was actually capable of showing such a cute expression.

"What?" Art asked, looking confused. Soon confusion left his countenance as he watched Kurapika continued to giggle modestly. Gradually, in the agent's eyes, Kurapika's image changed into that of a woman with longer blonde hair and humble, deep-blue eyes.

"Diana?" Art whispered unconsciously.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

Art squinted and snapped back to reality. He soon realized that it was Kurapika who was in front of him and not someone else.

Art shook his head and grinned at the blonde hunter who looked at him questioningly, "Nothing."

"By the way," Kurapika said, changing the subject, "How long are we going to stay in this town?"

"I asked Merula if we could stay here until the _Fiesta_ is over. I wanted to spend longer and quality time with Lina as much as possible while we're here. I owe her a lot as a father. I wanted to make it up to her. I'm glad that Merula agreed," the agent replied.

"I see…um what's a Fiesta?"

"It was an annual festival. This town's _Fiesta_ is two days away from now."

The three spend several hours more downtown. All because of Lina insistently pointing various places she wanted to go. They went to _tiangge_ or flea market that usually shows up when a _Fiesta_ in town is coming close. They also visited a _peryahan_ or mini carnival near by and enjoyed some rides. Though, the blonde hunter would occasionally complain thoughtfully that she should not be there and wasting time procrastinating since she was a hunter on a mission. But Lina and his father would always drag her here and there and eventually, the blonde hunter would find herself rather enjoying the fun.

Oftentimes Lina would enjoy hanging onto her Daddy's and Kurapika's arm like a monkey and would giggle while doing it. She does it while they were walking or crossing roads. Lina was such an energetic girl and the Kuruta, unawarely, grew fond of her. She did not notice that while they were in the carnival, Art was observing her. The agent noted that Kurapika would usually act like a paranoid and worried mother on Lina, as Lina would often run here and there carelessly; pointing at things she wanted to get and rides she wanted to try.

Soon, Kurapika noticed that Art would occasionally hold her hand as if he was guiding her, probably, afraid that she might get separated from him and Lina. He would usually do it without glancing at her or asking her permission first and of course, Kurapika would always feel awkward about this. She would blush at this, too. Sometimes, if she attempted to break her hand free from his clutch, the agent would hold it more tightly. Thus, in the next reoccurrence of such situation, she would just let it be. Deep down though she was fighting off the idea that Art's hand holding hers felt nice. She felt protected and….cared. Though she was used to the idea that she did not need someone to protect her anymore ever since she passed the Hunter's Exam and managed to learn and utilize Nen. But this was a completely different matter.

Finally, the three agreed to go home after they had visited practically every part of the town. Kurapika, Lina and Art were walking side by side. Lina was in the middle and the girl would always hold onto her Daddy's hand and Kurapika's hand while walking. Kurapika had been observing the three of them for while now. She admitted to herself that they looked like one happy family. Suddenly, a question occurred to her: _would she be able to have a family like this of her own?_

A tear escaped Kurapika's eye.

"What's the matter, Kurapika?" Art asked in a concerned tone, looking at her questioningly.

"Ah nothing, it's just that there's something in my eye," Kurapika gently wiped the stream of tear from her right cheek. Suddenly, she felt the agent's hand on her face and when she looked up, she saw Art's worried face stared at her so closely. The Kuruta blushed hotly. If she was not wearing black contact lenses, Art could have seen how bright Kurapika's scarlet eyes burned.

Art gently pulled the blonde hunter's face closer to his. Kurapika's heart began to beat faster and she could hear its beat echoed so loudly in her chest. Was Art going to kiss her? She wanted to resist but her muscles would not move.

The agent gently wiped the edging tears on the blonde hunter's eyes. He tilted his head and frown.

Abruptly, Art pulled away, "It must be your contact lenses. Tell me if they irritate your eyes, we could get back to the ophthalmologist and complain about it."

The Kuruta was dumbfounded for a moment. Rather a bit disappointed.

"No. No need," Kurapika replied with a sigh, "It's okay. I'm fine now."

Soon the three stood at the side of the road in front of a pedestrian lane, waiting for the traffic light to let them cross the road. Half a minute later, they were crossing but the Kuruta suddenly brought up short by something that caught her attention from the rooftop of one of the high buildings near-by. She saw a girl in black leathery, with a leather eye patch on her left eye, staring down at them. Could if be she was someone she thought she was?

Lost in thought, the Kuruta was unaware of the upcoming truck heading directly towards her. It was too late for her to hear its horn.

"WATCH OUT!"

Kurapika felt a body flung onto her violently. The truck just barely missed a part of her and Art as it passed by beside them. The next thing the blonde hunter knew, she was rolling on the ground while by a pair of strong arms wrapped around her tightly and protectively while a warm but larger body pressed against her own. She could smelled the perfume coming from it.

Later, she heard incoherent murmurs of people who had gathered around them, looking down at them, curious and worried if she and the person, who was still hugging her, were okay. Then she and the person set into sitting position. The other person was Art.

The agent cupped Kurapika's face as he panted heavily; his face filled with worry. Kurapika just stared back at him with wide confused eyes.

"Diana, are you alright?"

"What?"

"You fucking IDIOT! What do you think you're doing? Do you wanna die! Shit" Art yelled at Kurapika angrily. Then the agent pulled her close and took her in a tight embrace.

"I am not….Diana. Who is…. Diana?" Kurapika whispered to the agent's ears. The agent's eyes suddenly went wide and he pulled away. He looked away from Kurapika guiltily, pained by her accusing gaze.

* * *

It was almost dark when Kurapika and Art reached the sloped leading to the agent's home. Art carried his sleeping daughter on his arms; her head was lying on gis shoulder. The agent's other hand was holding Kurapika's tightly as they walk, pulling her along with him. They never talked since the road accident down town.

This time, Kurapika managed to pull off her hand from the agent's clutch. Kurapika suddenly stopped on her tracks. Art stopped too, but did not turn to glance at the Kuruta, who at the moment carried a grave expression, as if someone had betrayed her.

"Diana is….the name…of my diseased wife," Art said softly.

Silence.

"Look. Kurapika. ….I-I'm sorry. Please, I hope you won't form any ideas from it," the agent stammered.

"It's fine," Kurapika lied, her voice was flat, "It doesn't really matter, does it?"

The Kuruta then walked past the agent. Soon, Art was walking behind her, too; his face filled with guilt.

When they reached the front porch of the house, Lina suddenly woke up because of the loud noise coming from inside. Art put her down. Lina stretched lazily and yawned. Her Daddy hold her hand as they enter the door, guiding her on the way. The loud sound of a band's gig blasted at them which swept Lina's drowsiness away temporarily.

Marj band was practicing their gig on the stage on the far end of the bar, in front of the empty seats. Mr. Rudy decided to close the bar from the costumers that night to give way for "The Golden Orb", (Marj's band name) to be able to practice privately. There were four members. The three males were a vocalist, a bassist and a drummer. While Marj was the lead guitarist.

The vocalist sung the song with so much emotion and energy in front of the microphone while Marj played her guitar excellently with a style. The song came with a line like these…

_Kaya pasens'ya na kung may pagtingin ako sa iyo _

_'Di mapigilan bulong ng damdamin _

_Isisigaw ko para mapansin mo _

_Pansinin mo naman ako _

The vocalist suddenly stopped singing after he saw Art. Then the sound of musical instruments gradually died until utter silence dominated the whole room. The vocalist stepped off the platform and walked towards Art with a smile.

"Musta na Kuya! (How are you, Kuya!) Long time no see!" the vocalist greeted the agent cheerfully as he and Art high-fived each other in a manly way.

"Nice to see you, too, Jerald," Art beamed at him.

"That must be your girlfriend Marj told me about," Jerald regarded Kurapika' with a nod, "High there, Kurapika," then Lina who looked up at him apathetically, "Hi Lina."

"Um, well…yeah," the agent answered hesitantly. Then the two eventually engaged in a conversation in their own language. Kurapika thought those two would take long, so she escorted the Lina, who began to yawn and stretch again lazily, to her room so the girl would be able rest early after a tiring day from downtown. Before they took the stairs, Kurapika thought she heard Jerald convincing Art to play his guitar again. The blonde hunter pondered if the agent could actually play a musical instrument, too.

Soon, Lina was asleep in a bed which she and her cousin Marj shared in one room. Kurapika pulled the blanket and covered Lina from feet to shoulder.

Then, someone knocked on the door. Art did not wait for Kurapika to open it for him; he opened it himself but did not step in. Instead he leaned by the door frame.

"Dinner's ready," Art declared softly.

Kurapika just nodded without looking up at him.

* * *

The dinner went on without Art and Kurapika talking much to each other in front of the table. Unlike Marj, and her band mates that were quite very talkative, after they finished each of their plateful of food and at the moment, were enjoying their dessert and talking at the same time. Some of them would ask Kurapika some questions but her answers were very limited. When they would tease her and Art about their (supposed-to-be) relationship, both she and Art would just force a (shy) smile. Soon, everyone left the dining table.

Kurapika failed to notice at that moment that Merula never joined Art and his family in dinner.

The Kuruta was about to head to her room when Jerald suddenly called out her name through the stage.

"Um…excuse me, Miss Kurapika," he said, "If you don't mind, would please take a seat for a while. Kuya Art has a surprise for you."

Before Kurapika could protest, Marj gently pushed her towards one of the empty seats along the wooden counter of the bar. She got no choice but to sit there while trying to figure out what was going on.

Then, she saw Art walking into the stage carrying a guitar. He was going to walk back but Jerald blocked his way and apparently, told some encouraging words to him to continue what he was about to do. It did not take long and Art was sitting on a stool facing everyone, especially Kurapika. His guitar sat on his lap and then he positioned his arms and hands on the instrument, ready to play it anytime. Jerald set the microphone with a stand near the blushing agent's face.

Art took a deep breath and looked straight at Kurapika who looked confused and rather surprised.

"Ehem…I wanted to..erm…dedicate a song to someone," Art began, his nervous voice amplified by the microphone, "…to someone I met, just few days ago…and…" the agent stopped for a while to heaved a sigh, the kind of sigh nervous people do, "…and…eventually, for a rather short period of time that we've been together, I realized that that someone had become so special to me."

Jerald and the rest of the people present in the room, smiled, the kind of smile people do when they witness a beautiful and touching love story in a movie. Kurapika was the only one who was not smiling though. She looked nervous instead.

"I wanted to apologize to her deeply." Art continued, "Because I cussed, sometimes around her, I'm kind'a demented, arrogant, impulsive…and I also wanna apologize to her about ….the I things I did recently that made her upset. And…there's something more important that I wanted her to know right now. And I hope she would get the message through this song."

Art began to pluck the strings of the guitar and a beautiful melody echoed softly from it. He started to sing then, and he sang the song very well, not to mention that he got a nice voice for it, too. The song began with these lines…

_Lying here with you_

_Listening to the rain_

_Smiling just to see the smile upon your face_

And then, the rest of the musical instruments played, and for that, Art became aware that Marj's band members began assisting him with the sounds And the song turned alive even more…

_These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive_

_These are the moments I'll remember all my life_

_I found all I've waited for_

_And I could not ask for more_

Kurapika noted that Art does have a nice voice. She recalled that day when Art sang in the motorboat. She admitted secretly that she was impressed. He sang better at this moment though, because he sang the song more heartily and earnestly. The blonde hunter continued to watch the agent sang. Art looked up and gaze straight at the Kurita's eyes. Soon, their gazed were fized only at each other as if the two of them were the only people in the world.

_I could not ask for more than this time together_

_I could not ask for more than this time with you_

_Every prayer has been answered_

_Every dream I have's come true_

_And right here in this moment is right where I'm meant to be_

_Here with you here with me_

Kurapika felt her heart beat faster and louder once again, but this time, more intensely it almost hurt physically and hard to breathe. She continued to watch Art sang, because for some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off him at the moment. Probably, because finally she got absorbed by those sage captivating orbs of his and she failed to resist them anymore; those orbs that stared back at her so affectionately and wooingly at her. Her chest began to hurt even more as if her heart would explode, as if there was something in there which she could barely contain.

_What's happening to me? God, please pull your self together! _Kurapika berated herself thoughtfully and realized something unacceptable. Marj, on the other hand noted Kurapika's flushed face as the blonde hunter's eyes remained fixed at her Uncle.

Art finished singing the last line of the song. The instruments have not finished playing yet though when everyone saw Kurapika ran towards the steps and headed to her room in such a hurry.

Merula, who was quietly sitting on the usual spot at the veranda, saw Kurapika through the window, ran through the corridor and entered to her room in such a rushed pace.

The Kuruta shut the door of her room and pressed its lock but remained standing there for a while while her trembling hands stayed on the doorknob. Kurapika leaned her forehead against the cold wooden surface of the door. Facing downward, her blonde hair fell over to the side of her face and concealed her eyes but failed to conceal the tears that started running down her cheeks.

Then Kurapika heard footfalls. The footfalls slowed down and stopped eventually in front of the Kuruta. The door was the only thing that stood between her and the agent. She saw the shadow extended through the aperture between the floor and the based of the door.

Merula was still watching from the veranda. She saw Art stood in front of the door of Kurapika's room. He raised his hand to knock, but he did not do it. He put his hand down and retreated back to his own room instead. Merula turned her head to the opposite direction and looked down to the house's front yard below her. Marj's band mates bid good-bye and promised that would come back the day after tomorrow.

Merula crouched over the wooden hand railing of the veranda. There was a gust of wind and then she was gone.

* * *

The bar was now half lit, empty of people except one. Marj slouched lazily on the swivel chair along the bar counter. Her head relaxed and stared up at the ceiling drowsily. Her electric guitar rested against the wooden closet behind her. She was pretty bushed from the gig practice. Her grandpa retired earlier than everyone and expected Marj to take care of the cleaning after their gig practice ended.

Marj pondered about the earlier event. Though the outcome of her Uncle's performance seemed to have gone a bit painfully wrong, she knew that eventually, her expectation would transpire. She smiled as she imagined it.

Abruptly, she noticed something from the corner of her eye. She moved up her head and looked over at the door and saw Merula standing there. She walked towards Marj quietly. Shadow hid half of her face, though the other half was revealed that her left eye was covered in a black leather eye patch. When she reached the counter, she placed two small glass tubes on the counter in front of Marj. One tube contained a dark maroon liquid and the other one contained a coal black one.

Marj lifted the glass tube with the black liquid and observed it closely.

"How did you get this in just a day?" Marj asked, impressed.

Merula recalled herself _being in a small secret laboratory from someone's house. Broken laboratory apparatuses scattered all over the floor. The room was a total mess. There was a dead man in a blood-stained lab coat laying his head on his desk. Blood pooled under his head; it streamed to the edge of the table and eventually, dripped to the floor._

"It doesn't matter," Merula answered flatly, waving off the memory in her head.

Marj sneered, "Wait here."

Merula waited quietly for Marj who disappeared to the basement and came back with a small briefcase. She placed the briefcase over the counter with a thud and opened it with a click. She turned it around and presented to Merula the exact replica of her weapon, the "pendulum", resting over the bright red pad of the briefcase, like a pearl in a shell.

Merula picked up the ring carefully and place it in her middle finger of her right gloved hand.

"I was going to confess that I've been hiding this replica for years now and would hand it over to you on the _Fiesta_ day but...," Marj explained as she watched Merula pulled the pendulum from the ring and revealed the sharp string connected to it. "But after you told me your plan last night…," The sharp thread gleamed vividly next to Merula's eyes. The shimmer reflected to her dark left orb, Mar shrugged, "I've changed my mind."

The thread reeled back to the ring and the metal pendulum and its bead attached to it with a metallic click.

"Are you sure you'll give this to me as a payment?" Marj suddenly inquired suspiciously as she played her fingers about the diamond pendant hanging on her neck, "I made a research about this and you know what? I could buy an entire Spratly Island with this. So then, isn't this a bit too much of a payment, I'm not the greedy you know."

Merula turned her back, ignoring Marj's remark. She began to head to the door.

"Um…hey Merula!" Marj called again and Merula stopped on her tracks without craning back, "Don't you think….the Kuruta tribe will be restored by 'cloning'? I mean there was a survivor after all."

It was such a rare opportunity to see Merula shoot a sharp glare at someone.

"Just kidding," Marj looked away timidly, pressed her lips together to conceal a grin, and shrugged.

Merula turned away and resumed to her pace, but then Marj made another additional comment.

"I realized you ain't that callous as I think you were," Marj added, "You got feelings, too. Your face rarely shows it though."

And then Merula was gone. Marj was left alone in the bar area again.

* * *

_Kurapika heard someone crying in the dark. She turned around and tried figuring out which direction it was coming from, until she found a girl less than 5 meters away behind her. She had a long, blonde hair and the tips were almost lying on the ground about her. Her arms wrapped around her folded knees. Head down, the girl's face was concealed. She was trembling. Her hiccups and sobs echoed in the darkness._

_When Kurapika walked closer, she noticed that some of the blonde strands of the girl's hair were matted with blood. A chill ran down Kurapika's spine and she began to walk backwards warily away from the girl._

"_Where are you going?" The girl spoke suddenly in a nonchalant way. Her voice was so clear it sounded like she was not crying before._

_Kurapika saw the girl rise to her feet and revealed that she was wearing royal Kuruta attire which was smeared with blood. Terror invaded Kurapika's countenance as she stared at the girl's face; her lips trembled and she began to sweat. The girl was her; her young self 7 years ago, glaring at her accusingly with angry scarlet eyes. Her countenance was almost insane. Thin layers of blonde hair dangled messily over her face. But the scarlet color of her eyes glowed vividly under them._

"_Are you going to run away?" the girl inquired, as she tilted her head. Then she pointed an accusing finger, "How selfish of you!"_

_Suddenly, dead bodies appeared around them. They were bathed in blood, mutilated, and their sockets were empty. Their faces were gaping as wide as they could go which implied that they have suffered so such torment beyond imagination._

"_Have you forgotten me? Have you forgotten US?" the girl continued, "Have you forgotten our suffering? Our soul crying for justice and vengeance!"_

_Blood suddenly began to gush from the floor, swallowing the entire ground and sinking corpses into the pool of crimson, and Kurapika found herself helplessly sinking into it, too._

* * *

Kurapika woke up on her bed with a gasp. Her eyes were wide and scarlet. Her clothes were drenched in sweat. She put her arm over her forehead, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Soon, the door in her room opened slowly. Kurapika, who were all freshened up, poked out her head through the door and examine the corridor. No one was around there and everything seemed quiet. She padded towards the steps. She stood still on the topmost landing of the stairs, bent down and peered at the bar area to check if someone was there. She was oblivious to Art who just came out from his room.

"Good morning," Art greeted.

Kurapika whirled. She was flabbergasted as she found the agent standing behind her so closely. Immediately, her heart began to beat faster again; her face flushed hotly; her eyes grew wide. If she had forgotten to put on her black contact lenses, she would have let the agent see closely how vividly her eyes burned with scarlet color. She wanted to say something but failed to think of anything to say.

Reflexively, Kurapika moved a step backward, unaware that her feet would land on wrong place. Abruptly, she lost her grip and balance, and then found herself falling. For a moment, she saw Art lunging towards her. Soon she felt like the world was spinning violently. There were several loud thuds, followed by a crashing sound. And the next thing Kurapika knew, she was lying on top of the someone.

Art groaned in pain. Kurapika, hearing it, pulled away immediately and crouched beside the Art and looked down anxiously at the sprawling agent. Her hands hesitantly hovered over the agent, wanting to touch him.

"Are you alright?" she inquired nervously to the agent who turned and writhed in pain on the cold floor.

"Fuck!" Art groaned. "Hurts!"

"Did something broke? Can you stand?"

"Can't. Hurts!"

"What hurts?"

"Here," the agent pressed a palm on his right chest just above his heart.

"Here?" Kurapika repeated and ventured into touching the part where the agent's hand had been.

"Yes, here!" Art cried and he put both of his hand on top of Kurapika's and pressed it harder against his chest.

"What should I do?" The Kuruta asked frantically.

Art raised his head a little so he could take a good look at Kurapika's face. Soon Kurapika was looking back at him straight, eye to eye, with worried expression. They remained staring at each other closely like that for several seconds, until Art said…

"Kiss…me."

Anxiety left Kurapika's face and replaced by annoyance. She pulled off her hand from the agent's chest and stood up with a tantrum.

"You jerk! You've never changed!" the blonde hunter spat as she walked away from the agent who remained lying on the floor.

Suddenly they heard a scream. It came from the basement. Merula, who was testing her new pendulum not far away from the house, heard it, too, and was brought up short by it.

Kurapika and Art rushed to the basement which turned out actually to be a laboratory. Marj was trapped under a metal tray trolley that collapsed over her. She was struggling to crawl out from it but failed. Preserved specimens and fragments of broken glass bottles scattered around her. The smell of formaldehyde spread throughout the room which made Art and Kurapika covered their mouth and nose.

Above was a live, slimy octopus-like creature with a seemingly deformed head of a rat stuck on the ceiling. Before Kurapika could even glance at it, its arm stretched towards her like an arrow. The agent, who immediately noticed it, jumped in front of Kurapika to shield her. The said arm of the creature penetrated through the agent's right chest and the Kuruta witness the blood gushed from the agent's mouth, spilling some on Kurapika's shirt.

Art collapsed onto Kurapika. His hands slid from her arms and soon the agent was lying on his back on the ground, coughing blood and convulsing while blood also gushed from the wound on his chest. Kurapika shook her head with terrified, unbelieving eyes, as if she refused to believe the horrible scene right in front of her.

….to be continued…

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_Er..I guess this chapter turned out like some sort of Shoujo manga or something ^^ Oh well *shrug* This fanfic is not supposed to be focusing on romance but, lately, it occurred to me that it will play some important role in the entire story. I will admit though that some readers like the idea of the romance developing between the canon character and my male OC (it gave me a hard time mixing romance in this fic-I've done a thorough research since I'm not really good at it…and I hope my effort would pay off)_

Naaaaahhhh…I don't know anymore.(-_-)"  
_Anyway, I've found a way to prevent migraine while writing fanfic-wearing shades in front of the computer. LMAO!_  
_Er…I ranted too much. Hope you enjoy this chapter though. ^^'_

_**P.S**: I don't own the following songs featured on this fic. The songs are **"Pansensya Na"** by **Cueshe** (fan of Cueshe band here) and **"I Could Not Ask For More"** by** Edwin McCain.**_


	18. Chapter 17: Interrogation part 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some gory scenes and cursing…Set in AU.

**Note:** Please review….Sorry for some grammer, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Interrogation**

Apparently, she woke up from a nightmare for the second time that morning. Kurapika was gasping her breathe as she stared at the ceiling with eyes wide and burning vividly like fire in her dimmed bedroom. She sweated so much she felt like a pail of her own sweat was poured over her while she slept and it drenched her clothes almost completely. She pulled herself into sitting position on the side of her bed and quickly cupped her face with both hands, pressing her fingers against her forehead and hoping that it would help erase quickly the horrible images still fresh in her mind, but it did not.

Her face felt clammy on her palm. Her hands trembled as her fiery eyes peered among the opening of her fingers and bangs that were practically wet and sticky against the skin of her faces.

Even if it was just a bad dream, it seemed to her that she could actually smell the stench of blood and feel its clamminess; a painful reminder of her bloody past; a reminder that her people sacrificed their own lives to save her.

But then, the image of Art dying in front of her seemed like a repetition of such tragedy. She hated to admit that she felt quite devastated by it. And that only proved something-feelings. The kind of feelings that should not occur in her. The selfish feelings that might serve as a hindrance to achieve her real goals.

She prayed. She prayed earnestly that this time, she was in the real world; that all the horrid things she had witnessed a moment ago were indeed just part of a bad dream and once she walks out of this dark bedroom, everything would be okay; no one died.

Kurapika walked out from her room all freshened up from a bath, but the distress did not leave her. Walking in the corridor felt pretty much like a déjà vu from her recent dream. She could not help but to be wary of the next event that might occur. Though she believed that it was ridiculous to expect that the next event might occur similarly with her dream, big part of her could not resist worrying; she was rather scared.

Soon, Kurapika failed to notice that she had been spacing out for several minutes while she stood on the topmost landing of the stairs leading down to the bar area at the ground floor of the house.

"Good morning," said the familiar voice.

Kurapika whirled and lost her footing at the edge of the landing. If the agent did not catch her by the arm on time, she could had been rolling down like a boulder to the ground floor.

"Are you okay?" Art inquired to the blonde hunter with an anxious face; his sage eyes wide and looked concerned, "You look pale."

"You..you're alive?" Kurapika muttered half consciously; her face brightened up a little, perhaps for proving that the agent was in fact alive and well.

"What?" the agent frowned, unsure of what he just heard.

The blonde hunter realized that she just muttered some silly words, and that her face was too close to the agent's, she pushed Art away. The paleness of her face was suddenly replaced by pinkish color. Feeling the hotness on her cheek, Kurapika turned away and walked down the stairs without another word, leaving the bewildered agent on the top landing of the stairs. Soon, when the Kuruta was out of sight, Art pressed his lips together and soon he was grinning and shaking his head in amusement. He did not regret that he did not tell Kurapika that she forgot to put her black contact lenses on. After all, witnessing the blonde hunter's eyes glowed vividly scarlet was really worth a while.

* * *

Marj, as usual, was sitting along the counter of the bar and tapping on her laptop, beside it was a transparent glass jar a little bigger than a fist. A huge, live spider was moving inside it.

Marj heard footsteps. When she looked up and saw that it was Kurapika coming, she snatched the jar away and put it in a hiding.

"Good late morning, princess," Marj greeted rather sarcastically, "Feels good to sleep like a log and wake up late, isn't it?"

Kurapika's eyes landed on the clockworks above the cabinet behind Marj, it was already past 10:30 in the morning.

"My apologies if somehow my late wakening today rather affected your personal life," the blonde hunter replied with the same sarcasm. Marj admitted, that was surprisingly a good come back. Defeated, she rolled her eyes and changed the subject.

"Remember our deal?" Marj began.

"Our…." the Kuruta repeated, "Deal?"

"I want a hundred of female Golden Orb Weavers," Marj continued with a lazy tone. She settled her chin over her palm while disappointment gradually flourish on her face, "They are the spiders with the sturdiest web in the world. They were mostly the ones which you had killed when you went into frenzy in my Greenhouse."

It finally dawned to Kurapika what Marj's meant. She remembered she offered her a deal to compensate the damage she made on her Greenhouse, and she specifically offered to replace the creatures she had lost by using her Hunter's License Card.

"I practically had half a thousand of them until you broke some parts of the Greenhouse, killed some of them while the rest fled. I only managed to recover more or less 300 of them."

"I understand," Kurapika answered. "As soon as I can use my Hunter's License, the specimens will arrive to you. You have my word."

Kurapika whirled and started to amble away.

"Wait," Marj called and Kurapika was brought up shortly by it. "There's something I want you to see. Come here closer."

Though reluctant, the Kuruta walked towards Marj and stopped just a meter away from Marj.

"Is it important?" Kurapika inquired rather irately.

Marj pulled out a pen-like thing. She twisted both sides in opposite directions and then it was divided in two equal half. A thread appeared, attached to both ends of each half, apparently connecting the two and reeling each of them back.

"Can you get an empty bottle of beer for me from that box over there?" Marj asked the blonde hunter, jerking her head to the direction of the synthetic box of bottles of beer, while she struggled to keep each part of the pen from one another, preventing the thread from reeling them back together.

Reluctant, Kurapika obeyed otherwise without a word. Marj asked her to hold the bottle firmly in front of her as she was about to do something. The Kuruta did as she was told. Then Marj pulled each side of the pen farther, extending the length of the thread with great effort. She was practically grunting while doing it.

Marj intertwined the thread around the glass bottle of beer, and then pulled each side of the pen. There was a screeching sound and then the top of the bottle fell off. The thread cut the glass bottle like i a piece of fruit cut by a very sharp knife.

Kurapika was astonished. Soon, everything dawned on her.

Marj let both sides of the pen reeled back together and the thread disappeared as the pen become whole again.

"Is that…?" Kurapika finally uttered hesitantly.

"It's the same kind of thread in Merula's pendulum. The one on her ring," Marj explained. "It can cut through solid materials. It can even cut metallic objects. And this will be the last sample I'll have if I wouldn't be able to gather enough Golden Orbs Weavers as soon as possible."

There was a short silence. Marj saw Kurapika making a face.

"Yes, spiders are fascinating, aren't they?" Marj twisted her lips and gave the blonde hunter a solid look, "I'm the one who made Merula's dangerous cutting weapon. The thread was made of a million threads of Golden Orb Weavers' webs and it took me almost a couple of years to complete a seven-meter length thread that can cut solid objects. I already gave Merula the last replica of the Pendulum. And how long do you think it would take me, after you ruined my Greenhouse, to farm Golden Orb Spiders and have them multiply in enough numbers in order produce the right amount of web I need to remake my greatest invention?"

It was obvious to the Kuruta that she was being scolded and rebuked.

"I'm really sad to hear that," Kurapika answered, her voice sounded like she was restraining her anger, "But I already apologized and promised that I will compensate. You don't need to lecture me any further."

"I'm just saying…." Marj added, "That I believe that it was a crime to let yourself loose your sanity and go in a ridiculous frenzy against such creature just because a certain criminals used that creature's name to represent their group. It was almost the same with hurting or killing the innocents."

"Just so you know, I didn't meant to hurt them or kill them! I just…" The Kuruta took a breath and she hated admitting to herself that she ran out of words to say, "I…Arguing with you will get us nowhere."

Kurapika was going to leave but…

"One last thing," Marj continued. Kurapika already made several steps away from her and was just craning over her shoulder when Marj came up with an unexpected question, "Do you like my Uncle?"

Marj saw the faint flush on Kurapika's cheek and the flicker of red on the Kuruta's shocked eyes. The blonde hunter began to stammer.

Marj's eyes narrowed, she did not need to hear the answer. She could clearly see it from Kurapika's sudden change of countenance.

"Naaaahhh…Forget that I asked such question," Marj said suddenly as she stood from her seat and shut the screen of her laptop. Kurapika noticed something dangling under Marj's neck and it looked painfully familiar.

Slowly, with scrutinizing eyes, the Kuruta walked closely to Marj who was taking a bottle of alcoholic beverage from the cabinet next to her.

"Oh did I mention that you forgot to put your contacts on. I can see your eyes glowing red," Marj remarked as she pulled out a wine glass, unaware that the blonde hunter's expression turned grave and foreboding.

"That necklace, where did you get it?" Kurapika asked with a hard tone. When Marj turned to look at her, she was taken aback seeing Kurapika glared at her with scarlet eyes burning so brightly, it was enough to tell the intensity of emotions in her.

Marj hawked nervously and warily fumbled over her chest. Her fingers found their way to the diamond pendant of her necklace. She enclosed it protectively in a fist.

"You mean this? Merula g…gave it to me…as payment for the replica of her Pendulum," Marj answered nervously.

"She gave it to you just like THAT? Just for THAT?" Kurapika said angrily; Marj was practically cringing.

"Yeah. Why does it matter to you?" Marj scowled.

Kurapika closed her eyes, took a deep breath and tried to relax. But when she opened her eyes, the scarlet color of her eyes was still there.

"Where is Merula?" The blonde hunter demanded firmly.

"Well, isn't she upstairs?"

Quickly, Kurapika headed to the second floor. She met Art walking down the stairs. He greeted her but the Kuruta ignored him and continued on her way…

* * *

_An 8 year old girl with a long, black, wavy hair in a black dress was crying her eyes out as she stood among several heaps of dead Kuruta warriors lying on the grassy ground. Their bodies seemed to have died in the most horrid way one could not possibly imagine; bits and pieces of bloody flesh and entrails scattered all over the ground and practically turned the whole grassland crimson. Her hands were curled in fists and rubbing away the tears that would not stop flowing from her eyes. The blood that thickly clotted about her and practically made her appeared that she bathed in blood, literally, was not hers. It was blood from the people lying dead by her feet._

"_Hicks…hicks…Brother…No," she cried, "Please, Miruki…hicks…no…I don't want to…I can't…I'm scared!"_

_A large shadow fell over her. The girl slowly opened her eyes, and revealed the mismatch colors of her orbs. Her left eye was glowing scarlet, while the other was black as coal. She did not stop sobbing as she slowly looked up at the face of a giant deformed monster hovering above her. The creature was swollen and about 4 meters high. It only had one eye on the right socket and it was glowing scarlet. The left socket was empty, yet both were shedding tears. Its overgrown lower jaw was hanging like a loose hinge. The monster's head was half bald with disperse strands of long, black wavy hair dangling at both side of its face. Its limbs seemed to have overgrown too much that it was almost like of an ape's forelimbs that touched the ground, although, there weren't any finger of either an ape or of a human at their ends. There were only unusual-looking talons, almost like of a vicious animal._

_The giant creature took a step and its huge, deformed foot crashed over the bloody carcass of a dead Kuruta warrior and sent pieces of flesh and some more blood spurting over the ground; adding more paint of crimson onto the creature's foot._

_With only one scarlet eye, the monster continued to stare at the little girl below it. It gave out a long, sad bellow, it almost sounded like a cry._

"_No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! NO!" The girl protested between sobs while she shook her head repeatedly; her long locks swayed side to side around her small frame. The creature took another advance and the girl began to walk backwards. There was another bellow from the creature, this time, it sounded angry._

"_Noooo! Brother, nooooooooo!" The girl cried._

_Soon, the creature lifted one of its limbs and aimed at the girl and she began to tremble violently. Seeing that the creature was about to attack her, the girl's mismatched eyes grew wide with terror and something began to move under the skin beneath her scarlet eye._

"_No, no, no….NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

_Then, there was a sound of flesh being ripped apart. A sharp, giant talon-looking thing suddenly pierced through the monster's torso; crashing its innards and sending its blood gushing out of its huge body._

* * *

Kurapika found Merula dozing off on the wooden hand railing of the veranda at the second floor. She was sitting over the flat surface of the wooden railing and leaning her back against the wooden column. The breeze was blowing Merula's locks that framing her sleeping face. Kurapika was going to poke her on the shoulder when Merula's eyes snapped open wide in alarm upon sensing the presence of someone moving so close. Quickly, she whirled, jumped from the railing and grabbed the Kuruta's throat by one gloved hand and slammed her against the wooden wall. Soon, Merula recognized whose throat she just grabbed. Kurapika stared at Merula with shocked, scarlet eyes, and was struggling to pull away her hand from her throat.

The blonde hunter had never seen Merula made such grave, foreboding countenance. Her sharp, cold, glare from the mismatched eyes seemed to pierce through one's soul; her left eye was burning brightly red. Her teeth were gritting. She almost looked like she was gong to bite literally.

Abruptly, Merula pulled away her hand. The Kuruta practically collapsed on her knees after she was freed. She coughed hard and breathed hard, rubbing her throat with a hand, as if she had been deprived of oxygen for half an hour. She had never thought that Merula could be this strong; she was even stronger than the first and last time she encountered her back in Boracay in fact.

"What do you think you're doing?" Merula asked flatly. When Kurapika looked at her, her left eyes had returned to its amethyst color and her face into usual stoic countenance. Her seemingly raged expression was gone.

"I want to ask you something," the blonde hunter almost choked on the words, yet the anger sounded obvious on her tone, "Why did you give away the pendant just like that!"

Instead of answering the question, Merula just turned around and crouched over the hand railing, and then she jumped into the ground below. The Kuruta saw her land on her feet and then began ambling towards the woods.

"Merula, WAIT!" the vexed Kuruta yelled. Knowing that Merula would just ignore her, she decided to go after her. She crouched over the hand railing and was about to jump, too, when a strong wind blew and lifted up her skirt. One can imagine the blonde hunter's embarrassed face as she looked around quickly to see if anyone was around and saw the awkward moment. She remembered that she was wearing a skirt, and she refused to jump to the ground beneath in such outfit and God knows how much more self-embarrassment she would earn if she persist.

The angry Kuruta had no choice but to run into her bedroom, get changed with trousers and then sprint into the Veranda and jumped over the hand railing and into the ground. She began to trace Merula with her dowsing chain and followed her tracks. She managed to catch up with her and found herself in the middle of woods. She saw her 10 meters ahead, walking continuously.

"Merula!" Kurapika yelled angrily as she hurried towards her. Merula did not even turn to look at her. When she felt that the Kuruta was getting closer within 3 meters, she stopped.

"Keep your distance!" Merula ordered. Kurapika was brought up short by it, "Stay where you are."

Merula turned halfway and revealed her face to Kurapika with the usual impassive face.

"Just so you know," Merula continued, "That pendant was given to me. Obviously, I was its owner and thus, I can do whatever I want with it."

"Who gave it to you?" Kurapika demanded.

Silence.

"Is it your brother? Your brother is a Kuruta, then you're-"

"You don't need to know," Merula cut her off. She turned her back and began to amble away again.

"I NEED to know!" Kurapika pressed firmly, "Who are you, really? What is your connection to the Kuruta tribe? The only ones who can own that kind of pendant are the ones that are in line with the royal blood of the Kuruta kingdom. And if your brother had it, then surely, you have a Kuruta blood running in your veins as well!"

Merula did not answer the questions; instead, she continued to walk away.

"I DEMAND you to spill out the TRUTH!" The blonde hunter exclaimed angrily.

Merula stopped in her tracks and craned over her shoulder. She saw Kurapika glaring with fiery red eyes, and clenching her teeth. The chain had manifested on her right hand and her body was covered thickly in fighting aura.

"And what if I refuse?" Merula replied tauntingly.

"Then I will have to FORCE THE TRUTH FROM YOUR LIPS," the Kuruta stretched her right hand. The dowsing chain dropped and it dangled from her middle finger.

"Try me," Merula answered. Then she turned and walked away, not minding the enraged Kuruta who was already dashing towards her. But when Kurapika swung her dowsing chain, whipping it towards her target, Merula made a sharp 180 degree turn to face the blonde hunter. She stretched her right hand and cast her Pendulum. The thread glinted in the mid-air as thin streaks of sunlight hit it; it met the chain directly, and collided against it, producing sparks that practically looked like a firecracker exploding in the dimmed hollow of the woods. Then, Kurapika made a 380 degree turn in opposite direction and whipped the chain sideward and towards Merula's ribs. Merula jumped; the chain barely managed to brush against the sole of her boots. She spun in the mid air, and whipped the Pendulum against the trunk of the tree on her right. The thread cut the tree clean in the middle and its upper half collapsed over to the Kuruta beneath it.

* * *

Art poured himself a cup of coffee in the kitchen. His niece just stepped in.

"Have you seen Kurapika?" the agent asked Marj as he sipped his coffee.

BAM!

Art spat the coffee from his mouth when he heard a loud, crashing noise.

"The fuck!" he exclaimed and quickly stirred his eyes to the direction of the woods.

…to be continued…

* * *

**Author's Note**: Finally managed to update this. I was really busy this past couple of months. I'm not sure it I've seen Golden Orb's Spiders in real life. It's probably the huge spiders we called _"gagambang pari"_ in our place. But I could be wrong. I've seen an article about a Golden Orb Weaver caught a bird in its web and that's how strong its web is. I must be mad thinking that the thread from Merula's Pendulum was made of a biological material, from a spider's web, and why not? This is fiction after all! Why not go crazy in it? =P

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter. Reviews will be very much appreciated. Thank you.


	19. Chapter 18: Interrogation part 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some gory scenes and cursing…Set in AU.

**Note:** Please review….Sorry for some grammar, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 18**

**Interrogation**

**[ Part 2 ]**

_ Red was the colour of those eyes which stared at her with so much pity as the fire gradually destroyed her flesh. Those glassy scarlet orbs burned so vividly in each horrified face of more or less 30 people in front of her, watching. _

_The excruciating pain she suffered was beyond anyone's comprehension, but no worse than the extreme hatred and despair she felt when none of those red-eyed people did anything about it of course, most especially, when her beloved father was one of them. _

_She was there, tied in a huge wooden post, literally burning to death in front of them. No one heeded her imploration and thus, she lost all her hopes that at least, at least one of them, whom she believed has a humane heart, would stir to save her. Even if that person fails to completely save her life, at least, she would know that that person cares somehow if he at least advanced forward. _

_Unfortunately, none even made a step; in fact, most of them bowed their head or looked away or cringed. She was indeed unwanted, she concluded mentally. Then, let death take her away._

_ She expected though, before her breathing stopped completely, at least her suffering would finally come to an end. She had been yearning for peace all her life and she assumed that this was the kind of peace that would be granted to her. But she never expected that she'll be cursed even after death._

* * *

The tree swayed as Merula landed on its top and clung onto it like a primate. Immediately, her right arm moved sharply in a loop. The pendulum reeled back to her ring with a click, attaching the metal cone and metal ball into the ring itself.

Then she waited silently.

From where she was, she could actually see the vast open space above the thick woods. The blue sky sat over everything, the town a distance away and the mountain range next to it. The chilly gale blew wildly against her, and made her black locks dance along her cheeks and barely blocking her eyes only that she shook her head a bit to get them out of the way.

However, she was not there on the tree top for a leisurely sight-seeing. She was in the middle of a bloody fight!

Abruptly, a metal ball connected to a chain lunged towards Merula. Hearing the sound of it cutting through the wind, Merula whirled quickly, countered it with her Pendulum and made it deflect before it reached her.

"Do you wish to die?" Merula asked with the usual impassive tone. "Right here, right now?"

"I don't …." Kurapika wheezed, "…fear death." She was almost trembling when she endeavoured to stand up on a thick branch of a tree; her left hand leaned against the tree trunk for support. She stood several trees away from Merula and a few meters lower than her.

Kurapika's clothes were bloody. Her blouse and trousers had received several slashes; exposing the skin or wound beneath it, but thankfully, her clothes were still able enough to cover her body parts that were ought to be hidden. Both of her arms had received a visibly equal amount of cuts and bruises. Most of them were bleeding.

"I have no time for your childish tantrums," Merula stated.

"WHY!" The Kuruta screamed on top of her lungs; she sounded desperate. "Why won't you tell me everything! I have all the RIGHT to know!"

"I don't give a damn," Merula replied coldly. For a brief moment, Kurapika thought she saw an ominous expression flourished on Merula's countenance, and she admitted to herself that gave her a chill.

"Well, DAMN you!" Kurapika retorted, "You claim that your brother is a Kuruta, wouldn't that mean you're a Kuruta, too? All I ask is-"

"Silence!" Merula exclaimed. The blonde hunter noted that Merula's left eye began to glow scarlet. "HOW DARE YOU lump me with the likes of you!"

It was the first time Kurapika heard Merula's voice in a raging tone. She was obviously enraged by what Kurapika had said. Merula's left scarlet eye reflected that said rage. And with that, Kurapika confirmed that Merula held a grudge against her tribe. But this confused the blonde hunter. She could not imagine that someone would possess such resentment against her tribe. And for what reason?

None of them spoke for a moment; the sound of the wind howling prevented the deafening silence from taking over. The gale made the leaves and thin branches of the trees dance along with it.

"Tell me," Kurapika demanded, "what was your brother's name?"

"What's the use of knowing it?" Merula answered whose voice now sounded irate. "You can't even remember him. You can't even remember me." And that moment, Kurapika began to notice dark nerves flourished around Merula's left scarlet eye.

"Look at you!" Merula continued, this time, more emotions flourished on her face. An ominous one with a terrifying grin, too. "You haven't changed a bit. You are still the same, vain, spoiled princess of your pathetic clan and they were no different from you. "

Without a word, Kurapika suddenly made a powerful jump towards Merula. In brief seconds, she was hovering above her, practically catching Merula by surprise. Then she flung her dowsing chain towards Merula.

(If there was one thing that Kurapika regretted at that moment, it was that she wasn't able to use her chain jail to restrain her opponent's movement at least. But she knew she shouldn't, for her Nen was under the contract; her Chain Jail could only be used against the members of the Phantom Troupe. She will die if she made a mistake of using it to a non-member of the said group. Therefore, she'll have to bear the consequences of only being able to use the dowsing chain in a battle.)

Merula failed to evade the dowsing chain or counter it with her pendulum this time, though she managed to use her own left arm to shield herself from it. However, the force of the dowsing chain was so great that it seemed it have broken Merula's arm, and it was enough to throw her off the tree she was clinging onto. Merula, facing the sky, set in a free fall deep down into the woods. Her body brushed against the branches and leaves of the trees through her way down.

Soon, she noticed another falling figure from above. It was Kurapika. She dived towards her. The blonde hunter did minded the splinters that punched into her skin or the branches that added more wounds to her body and tore her clothes; some blood spurted from the Kuruta's cuts as she continued to dive. The wind fiercely blew her hair backwards and revealed her enraged countenance; her orbs never ceased to burn vividly with the scarlet colour.

Both have waited for the gap between them to decrease in a fair length and then Kurapika and Merula wielded their weapon practically in unison. Their weapons collided twice or thrice and created sparks as they did so. Soon, Merula landed on a tree branch, and whipped her sharp thread upwards and towards Kurapika. The Kuruta managed to grab a tree branch only that it was cut by the thread which sent her falling again. Suddenly, she was out of Merula's sight.

Kurapika hid behind a tree, just few meters away from the searching Merula. She took the oppurtunity to heal her wounds with her Holy Chain, since she had already lost a lot of blood. Merula, on the other hand, was observing her surroundings warily and was searching for the hint of where the Kuruta was hiding. Using her sensitive ears, Merula searched for some sounds that possibly made by the blonde hunter in hiding.

Kurapika was almost done healing herself when a sharp thread went thoroughly in the tree trunk, cutting it clean just an inch above her head. The upper part of the tree collapsed and crashed into the ground, sending dirt, twigs and leaves flying in the air and obscuring the surrounding, which also created a great disturbance among the forest animals and birds. The animals began to make some noise, raucous and echoing at first but gradually, they abated, and let the silence take over again.

Merula landed on the stump of the fallen tree. She did not found Kurapika there or a trace of her. This was her chance, she thought, to flee while the Kuruta was in hiding. She believed it would be foolish of her if she still persisted in this battle. She realized just a minute ago that she was almost completely provoked by Kurapika with her questions and she could not allow that to happen again. It was really dangerous, both for herself and for anyone around her; for innocent people around her; for people she did not want to die in her hands. She could lose her emotions like that again if she let the blonde hunter's interrogation make her remember the past she utterly despised.

Merula was in the mid-air after a powerful jump, but abruptly, a chain wrapped around one of her ankles and pulled her down violently, sending her again in a free fall. Then, Kurapika appeared above her and gave her a hard kick only to be blocked by her one good arm, but that was not enough to prevent her from crashing violently into the ground, making her almost literally eat dirt.

Kurapika landed on her feet but she occasionally staggered as she stood up and walked towards Merula who lay sideways on the ground. Her ankle was still chained up.

"I demand you to take back what you said, Merula!" The enraged Kuruta ordered angrily as she walked closer to her fallen opponent; the chain connecting her finger and Merula's ankle shortened as she did so.

"What if I refuse?" Merula answered in a rough, but calm voice, as she turned and showed her apathetic face to the blonde hunter. The impassiveness in her countenance seemed to be done purposely as to mock her. Kurapika's anger rose to the level where she could barely contain it anymore.

Kurapika wanted to punch Merula's face so bad that very moment and force her to spit everything but she didn't do it. She just stood there, gritting her teeth so hard she could make her gums bleed; she clenched her fist so hard they were almost trembling.

"What makes you hate us that much?" Kurapika asked angrily.

"What's the use?" Merula answered, almost with sarcasm, "They're already dead."

Abruptly, Kurapika jumped onto here and held Merula's collar tight and pulled her face close to her enraged and bloody face. Her scarlet orbs were burning so bright, the colour almost reflected onto Merula's face. The blonde hunter raised her fist, but then, she could not bring herself to punch her opponent's face. It stayed there in the mid-air and trembled.

"What is the matter?" Merula taunted. "Surely, you know even if you do that, you'll gain nothing. But why don't you go ahead and punch me."

There was silence; Kurapika was frozen in her position, trembling with anger. She despised being like this. Merula was right. She would gain nothing. Perhaps she wanted to punch her just merely to let out her anger, for already being defeated in this fight, for failing to gain what she wanted to achieve in this battle. Failure.

"If you won't do it," Merula continued, "I will."

Merula's foot rammed against Kurapika's stomach, and sent the Kuruta flinging backwards and rolling on the ground. Merula crouched and grabbed her broken arm by her good hand. There was a crunching sound of bones and then the next seconds she looked at her hand connected to the arm that had been broken before; she made the fingers moved in the way she wanted and they did. She could use both of her arms and hands again. Immediately, she broke the chain wrapped around her ankle with both hands and walked towards the blonde hunter who began to stir from the ground.

Kurapika looked nothing but a mess. Her blonde hair was plastered with dried leaves and dirt. Dried earth almost completely covered her skin, and plastered onto the clotted blood on her wounds. Her clothes were ragged and dirty. When she looked up, Merula was standing just 3 feet away from her, looking down. The shadow that landed on her face gave her an ominous image.

"Are you going to kill me, too?" Kurapika asked with a husky voice while she stood on fours on the ground.

"No. I want you to live," Merula answered, "I want you to live and suffer."

Quickly, Kurapika jumped backward, almost staggering as she landed on her feet, and set in an offensive position.

Merula realized that the Kuruta would not give up on this fight. She hated her for having such a pride. She hated her family for the same reason. However, she had no reason to surrender either. She got her own pride. She would not yield most especially to a Kuruta.

"You're asking for death," Merula announced, "There is nothing to fear about death in fact. Only that _dying _can be really terrifying. Shall I let you have a taste of it?"

Kurapika did not answer. Instead, she lunged forward and whipped her chain against Merula, even though she knew that her effort would be futile. Her fighting tactics were getting too old for her opponent. But she couldn't bring herself to give up or accept defeat. She was just too scared to do so.

Merula jumped to avoid the chain. While in the mid-air; suddenly a sharp pain hit her inside. She writhed and landed crouching on the ground. The pain prevented her for moving again. The chain came. Merula raised both of her hands to shield herself, only to make the dowsing chain coiled around her right wrist which contained the hand that controls the Pendulum. Now she could not even counter attack.

Merula's face began to twist. A pained expression began to flourish on her. She hated being seen like this by a Kuruta, but she could not prevent it anymore. Her left eye began to burn more vividly, as vivid as that of enraged blonde hunter in front of her. Merula looked up and revealed half of her face with dark nerves spreading evidently on her skin, mostly around her scarlet eyes. She began to think, perhaps, she could not stop this anymore. She would lose herself in front of Kurapika. It was just a matter of time.

"Kurapika," surprisingly, a slight smile appeared on Merula's face; though terribly pained which almost made her face looked older, "Once you learn the truth, there is no going back. Are you willing to change your resolve after learning everything?"

Kurapika practically made a confuse face, but the rage was still there; never leaving. She did not answer Merula's question.

"Then watch carefully," Merula continued as she take off the Pendulum ring from her right finger, "This is what my brother did to me. What your tribe had conspired for."

Kurapika's chain wrapped around Merula's right wrist broke into pieces. Not because of a brute force but because Merula's both arms burst and expanded and tore the leather fabric covering it, exposing the bare arm themselves. The Kuruta watched in horror as she witnessed what was transpiring in front of her. Merula's upper limbed mutated into monstrous form; the skin disappeared and expose the reddish muscles beneath. Kurapika noted those muscles shifted against each other as they formed together into unusual claws, both in each upper limb and let a huge talon emerge together with them, too. It was like Merula had grown death scythes on both of her arms.

Merula's expression on the other hand was nothing but worse than impassive. It was more like it was dead with eyes open wide. Kurapika suspected that there was no longer human in Merula's body. Not even sanity.

Merula's limbs swelled into monstrous form up unto her shoulders. The blonde hunter could see some pointed things sticking out on Merula's now hunched back, like that of a reptile, and her monstrous arm hand like that of an ape. Kurapika fliched as she saw Merula's face tilted and stare at her. She suspected that it was an animalistic roar that she heard and not a human voice when Merula breathed.

Kurapika made a couple of nervous steps backwards. Merula just stared almost blankly at the Kuruta, like an animal watching its prey cowered. The blonde hunter began to be filled with doubts; doubts about herself being able to defeat such monster and doubts on hope that she could even run away and not pursued by it. Most of all, a doubt of being able to think of how to deal with this current situation.

"Merula?" Kurapika called but Merula did not stir; she did not even blink. She just stood there and watched her. She looked like a terrifying apparition blending in the darkness of the forest. The only thing visible was her head with ivory-skinned face although half of her face was overlaid with dark nerves, specifically the left part.

Kurapika stopped on her tracks and stood still. She decided to face this bravely, which was a big mistake. She stretched her right arm. The sound of the chain echoed, abruptly, the monster suddenly bared its teeth like a wolf upon hearing it. Kurapika flinched and began to sweat coldly. She began to tremble, this time, with fear.

"Kurapika!" A familiar voice screamed. The blonde hunter turned around for a moment and saw Art and his niece, Marj running towards her. When Kurapika looked back to Merula's direction, Merula was gone.

"What the hell happened to you!" Art's eyes grew wide in horror as he saw Kurapika's in such a pitiful condition-bloody, dirty and her clothes were ragged. The Kuruta noted the gun tacked in the agent's waist as he approached her.

"Kurapika, who are you fighting agains-" Marj was cut off when Merula landed between them. Art and Marj froze in horror as they saw Merula in such a terrifying state. She stared at them suspiciously, as if not recognizing who they were.

"Omigawd! Uncle Merula mutated!" Marj stated in a whisper; there was panic in her voice.

"I can see that," Art answered nervously, cautious with his movement. "I need you to go back and get something Marj. You already know what it is."

Marj nodded her head and nervously made several steps backwards. The monster turned its head sharply for noticing Marj's movement. Marj froze.

"Hello, Merula, it's me Art," the agent told the monster kindly but nervously, "Do you recognize me?"

The monster just stared at Art and the agent took that as a 'no'. This was a disaster, he thought. And looking at Kurapika, it dawned to him that why Merula turned into this. He wanted to be angry, and nagged the blonde hunter, but this was not the right time. He needed her help.

"Kurapika?" Art raised his voice a little so that the Kuruta could hear him.

"Y-yes?" Kurapika answered.

"You okay?"

"Yes."

"Liar."

Kurapika glared at the agent. Art did not pay attention to it though. He kept his eyes on Merula.

"Can you still move?" Art asked again.

"Yes…..I-I can."

"I mean fast?"

Kurapika frowned, "I guess so."

"You should be. Marj needs to go you see. To get something to bring back Merula to _normal_."

The monster bared its teeth and gave out a low growl, threatening to attack the agent.

"Can you give me a hand," Art continued, "If you know what I mean."

"Yes." Kurapika then stretched her arm and set her dowsing chain ready. The monster turned its head sharply and bared its teeth to Kurapika. Marj started running, heading back to the house.

Kurapika felt scared. She had never dealt with such creature before. This was as terrifying as facing a Zoldyck assassin. Her life could be hanging in a thread. Not to mention that she had been exhausted for hours already and had lost a lot of blood. But she had no choice but to cooperate.

The Kuruta swung her chain. Before she could even make it lunge forwards, the monster disappeared in a flash and appeared right in front of her. It happened so fast Kurapika did not even have the time to react. The monster raised its death scythe. Kurapika managed to jump backwards and away from Merula but the monster followed her forward and the next thing Kurapika knew, there was a deep and long cut on her right arm; blood sprayed from it to the air.

Suddenly, Kurapika's vision blurred and she collapsed to the ground on her back.

**BANG! BANG!**

The monster craned and saw the agent pointing a gun at it. There was a smoke coming from its mouth.

"Merula, I'm really sorry for doing this. Please hang on. We'll bring you back to normal!" Art exclaimed.

Kurapika spun on her knees and crouched, shook her head and squinting. She could not see properly. Her eyes were not giving her a clear view of her surroundings. This was horrible.

**BANG! BANG! BANG!**

"Kurapika, RUN!" the agent screamed as he continuously fired his gun at Merula.

The Kuruta ran, regardless of the poor vision she had at the moment. She was told to run and she believed it was the best thing to do. Fortunately, she could at least see where she was going. She managed to avoid bumping into trees but she tripped for a couple of times. She ran fast and continuously and finally she stopped when she could no longer hear the sound of the gun fire. She craned around but she could hardly recognize the path she had been or the path she was heading earlier. She began to panic inside. She could hear her heartbeat getting faster. Her eyes wandered blindly around and her hands tried to fumble through the air.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her left arm. She was going to release a punch when she heard the familiar voice.

"Hey are you okay?" Art inquired.

"I can't see!" Kurapika answered practically sounding terrified.

"What?"

"Everything looks blurry."

The agent hold Kurapika's hand, and subconsciously, the blonde hunter hold onto his hand, too, while her eyes wonder aimlessly.

"You're bleeding. You have so many wounds. You lost a lot of blood I guess, that's probably because of that." Art explained as he observed the Kuruta with pity. "Don't worry, I'm here, you'll be okay."

"T-thank you," Kurapika answered and the agent hold her hands even more tightly for reassurance.

Cautiously, Art guided Kurapika by the hand as they began to walk. The agent would occasionally looked up as if searching for something or anticipating something to drop from above. Sensing no danger, they went on a fast run and only then that they heard some shuffling noise from above and among the trees. They did not stop running. They shouldn't. Then something landed in front of them.

Merula straightened her body and glared at the agent and to the Kuruta beside him.

Art took a wary step backward and led Kurapika to do the same.

"She's here, isn't she?" the blonde hunter inquired nervously.

"Yep, unfortunately."

Art heard Kurapika's chain, he craned over his shoulder and saw Kurapika raising her chained hand.

"Are you crazy? You can't even see properly and you're still planning to fight? Not to mention, you're not in a good condition!" the agent whispered angrily at the Kuruta. "Take your hand down! NOW!" Obstinately, Kurapika obeyed.

"Merula!" Art began to talk to the monster, "Listen to me! I know you're still there. Please, come back! Fight your way back! I know you can do it! Gawd! Merula! Please WAKE UP!"

But the monster just growled angrily.

"Kurapika," Art called in a whisper.

"What?"

"Turn to your right."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"Okay."

"When I say 'run', run as fast as you can, straight and whatever you hear, don't stop."

"But-"

"No buts, damn it!"

The agent let go of Kurapika's hand. The blonde hunter got a very bad feeling about this.

"In a count of three. 1…..2…..3! Run!"

Kurapika ran, fast and straight, not sure where she was heading. Merula was going to go after the Kuruta but the Art tried to stop her only to be rammed sideways by her monstrous limb. The agent went rolling on the ground. Hearing Art's scream, Kurapika halted into a stop. The monster headed towards the blonde hunter who was turning her head blindly, unaware of the danger coming to her.

"NO! Fuck!" Art endeavoured to stand up and then ran towards the Kuruta, desperate to outrun the monster but apparently, it seemed he would not succeed.

Suddenly, a faint sound of a gun was heard. Something pierced into the monster's arm. From not so far, Marj stood holding a stun gun which ammunition contained the extract of Belladonna. She fired twice more. The monster halted into a stop and stooped on the ground.

It didn't take long when the agent reached Kurapika and take her hand. She could hear the agent panting.

"Y-you 'kay?" Art wheezed.

"Are YOU okay?" Kurapika turned back the question.

"I'm still in one piece, don't 'ry."

The monster began to tremble, probably because of the effect of the chemical shot into it. But this had infuriated it even more. It lifted its head and saw the agent and the Kuruta several meters away from it. They began to walk; the agent guiding the blonde hunter by the hand. Then, suddenly it raised one monstrous limb and pointed it at them, specifically to Kurapika.

"Crap! Uncle, watched out!" Marj screamed, but it was too late.

Something extended from the monster's limb. Art managed to see it coming and reflexively turned around and stepped in front of Kurapika. A pointed thing connected to the monster's limb went through the agent's shoulder and literally bore a hole in his flesh. Kurapika felt Art collapse onto her and made her sit on the ground. She felt the agent's body on her arms. She felt liquid streaming on her hands. Confusion and anxiety flooded the Kuruta's face.

Marj screamed on top of her lungs, crying her Uncle's name as she ran towards him. The scream indicated to Kurapika that something had gone terribly wrong and it scared her. Gradually, Kurapika's vision became clear again. She looked down and saw the unconscious agent on her arms, bleeding heavily. She could feel the warmth leaving him.

Kurapika wished this was just another nightmare. She prayed that someone would wake her up. She needed to wake up now! Unfortunately, this was no nightmare. It was painfully real.

….to be continued…

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**Author's Note:** First of all, I would like to thank **angelofdeath1119 **who Beta-Read this chapter for me because I was so darn lazy re-reading and editing it ^^'; I just typed down what came up in my mind hurriedly because I wrote this when my head is already nodding to sleep. Actually, there might be more editing to come, but I'll just do it later =P. Anyway, I couldn't thing of any better title for this chapter. (-_-)"

To be honest, I was a bit hesitant of posting more chapters in this fic, it seemed the story is getting out of hand (-_-) _[turning into some sort of orginal story and not a fanfic anymore],_ but for the sake of my friend's request I have to post more chapters here _(I could just PM the manuscript to him but it seems he's using a cellphone to read it, so I have to keep posting here and give him the link)._

Neeeh...I hope no one's angry, I felt like I'm making Kurapika here look bad, but I'd say, that's NOT really my intention. Honest. You'll know as the story progresses more. Oh well, maybe I'll keep trying to update this fic when I got the time _(althoughnoone reviewitanymore ^^, butit'sfine)._

Hope you enjoy reading this chapter =D


	20. Chapter 19: Recovery

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some er…well, weird disgusting stuff..etc…(hard to explain…just read it to see what I mean :P )

**Note:** Please review….Sorry for some grammar, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^'

* * *

**Chapter 19**

**Recovery**

The sound of the water fall roaring was all Merula could hear. It practically stifled every sound that tried to seep into the dark cave where she lay and curved in a ball. The earth beneath her was damp and cool, rather comforting even; something she had to thank for, perhaps.

Her mismatched eyes, barely open, the left orb appeared as a faint beacon of red in the darkness Through the opening of the cave, Merula could see the thick bundles of water surging down. The raging water covered the mouth of the cave itself.

Merula lay there silently but would occasionally clenched her jaw tightly together and snivelled faintly, either because of the agony she felt when the muscle of her arms began to contract or to shuffle again _(she was fighting the monster within her that was trying to take over her mind and body once more)_, or when she remembered the very first scene she had witnessed when she finally regained her _own_ consciousness almost less than an hour ago-she had hurt Art. She saw him collapsed onto the Kuruta's arms and bled. He was dying, and it was all her fault.

And what did Merula do afterwards? She ran. She ran away. What a cowardly act! But what can she do? She was built that way-to kill. Like she could do the opposite of that. Of course she could not. After all, she was a monster.

* * *

Kurapika had a lot of reason why she could not let Art die. First, he had not told her everything she wanted to know yet. He _promised_ he will tell everything she needed to know. And now that she realized this promise, it dawned on her that she had indeed made a big mistake of provoking Merula and forcing her (in vain) to tell things that the agent knew.

Second, she believed that it was utterly unfair for Lina to lose her father. She had already lost her mother. Kurapika felt completely guilty about this. It felt like she was the one who would completely deprive the girl of his parent. Indeed, it was stupid of her to let her rage blind her and commit such foolish act. Now, Art was fighting for his dear life.

Thirdly, there was this third reason actually, but it was too personal; something Kurapika even refused to admit to herself.

Lina, her expression when she saw her father in such horrible state was unbearable for the Kuruta. The blonde hunter saw the girl emerged not far from the ground where she sat with the dying agent on her arms. Kurapika's heart sunk when she saw terror invaded the girl's countenance even before her Grandfather stepped in front of her and enveloped her in a tight embrace to conceal the dreadful sight from the girl. But it was far too late. The blonde hunter had heard Lina's muffled cry. Kurapika was sure that Lina saw everything.

The blonde hunter had been preoccupied by this fresh and painful recollection for less than an hour since Art was brought to his room to be treated. Both Marj and Rudy (Marj's grandfather and Art's uncle) almost decided to take the agent to the hospital in fear that he might actually die because of the _seemingly_ fatal wound he had received. After hearing a faint grunt from Art and witnessing some slight movement of his body, both had decided to just take him to his room and be treated there by any way they could. Although both were still troubled by the option of still taking him to the hospital to receive a proper treatment from a licensed doctor, but the risk of his whereabouts being easily found there by the organization would be very likely. Not if the hospital staff would be as cooperative as their close acquaintance who accepted the agent's background; not if they were as cooperative as the local townspeople who had witnessed the agent grew up in their place and utterly understood Art's complicated situation and would rather not interfere. Apparently, even if it was possible that they could be equally cooperative, Marj and Uncle Rudy simply didn't trust them. Both were quite aware that the organization was hunting the agent down, together with Merula, and they had just recently learned that Kurapika, too, was being hunted, in fact especially both her and Merula. They could not bring their selves to take the risk. They were simply too afraid of the possible consequences.

Lina, on the other hand, after her Grandfather persistently tried to convince her that her Dad would be okay, had cried herself to sleep in Marj's room. Uncle Rudy was not sure if his persuasion had worked, but at least it was better that Lina had fallen asleep. It would be less troublesome that way.

Meanwhile, Art lay on his bed while burning with fever. The wound on his left shoulder had been bandaged heavily, yet some blood managed to seep over and gave the bandage a couple of small, red stains. Art must have had been bleeding a lot still. If those red dots grew bigger, perhaps, they will actually need to bring him to the hospital. Let all hell break loose but no one in Art's family was going to let him die; perhaps not even Kurapika.

The blonde hunter sat quietly on a wooden stool next to the agent's bed like a statue; her thoughts seemed to be wondering somewhere. She was probably still too dazed by the recent bloody incident and also by Merula's shocking, monstrous transformation she had witnessed up close. The Kuruta did not expect to see it coming. She was probably almost traumatized by it. She could have had actually died from the monster's attack if only….

"DAMN IT!" Kurapika snapped to reality when she heard Marj's loud, angry voice. She was almost screaming; the quiver in her voice implied that she was close to crying. "Uncle was a moron! Jumping like that and using his own body as a shield to protect another moron!"

The blonde hunter knew very well that Marj was insinuating her. This time Kurapika remained silent. She believed she actually deserved it.

"Are you satisfied now?" Marj tilted her head at Kurapika. Even if the blonde hunter did not look up, she knew Marj was glaring at her contemptuously. "This is the second time around you let your impulsiveness gone out of control and this time, a person was practically killed, and this time, it's my gawddamn Uncle! You never learned any lesson, do you? What were you trying to do with Merula back there? Challenging her in a fight? Haven't the idea dawned on you yet that doing that is a suicide? What were you trying to prove?"

"Marj, that's enough! Please," Uncle Rudy broke in, waving a hand at her dismissively. Marj turned her back from Kurapika with indignant elaboration.

"I don't know what my Uncle had seen on you, Kurapika." Marj continued obstinately. "Though I hate to admit it but it seems Uncle has actually fallen badly for you he foolishly…Aaargh!" Marj did not finish the sentence but instead she let out an angry growl and raised her hands high as if blaming the heavens for everything. Then she left the room with mild tantrums, leaving only her Grandfather and Kurapika with her unconscious Uncle.

Uncle Rudy walked to Kurapika's side and leaned over to the sideboard next to the blonde hunter who was staring down at the floor. Kurapika's blonde fringe hung in front of her face, concealing her distraught expression. Her hands clasped together; she was almost trembling; her knees pressed against each other. She had not changed her ragged and bloody clothes yet. Some bruises and smears of blood were still visible on her skin.

"I'm sorry," the Kuruta said almost in a whisper. Uncle Rudy heard it nevertheless.

"If you're sorry because of what happened to my nephew," Uncle Rudy said, "I'd say it's not really your fault. You don't have to blame yourself this much. Some people do crazy things when they're in love. Maybe Art is one of them."

Kurapika suddenly felt something twisted within her. She heard her heart began to thump loudly. She looked up and met Uncle Rudy's reassuring smile, the kind of smile as if saying that she was forgiven already and that everything will be alright soon. Kurapika was not able to reply anything until Uncle Rudy announced that he was going to contact his friend nurse to take a look at his nephew. The Kuruta could not help but to assume that Uncle Rudy was trying to remain calm despite of everything; he wasn't even angry at her even though he had the right to be.

Soon, Kurapika was left alone in the room with the feverish agent. Then an idea struck her.

Marj had returned and was going to enter her Uncle's room when something made her stop by the door frame; there was a faint glow inside the room. Through the thin opening of the door, she peered and saw Kurapika sitting at the edge of her Uncle's bed; she was almost hovering on Art's body. A small metal cross connected to Kurapika's chain floated over the bandaged shoulder of the agent. It did not take too long before Marj understood what exactly was going on. Then, gently and quietly, she pulled the door close and walked away from her Uncle's room. Marj concluded that her Grandfather would not need to contact his friend nurse anymore.

* * *

Three small empty syringe-like receptacles lay on the dump ground beside Merula; those were the ones that had been shot into her by Marj with a stun gun.

Her arms were no longer as monstrous as before. Still, they were swollen to a certain extent which we could say they were not properly proportioned to Merula's body yet, but they had already manifested the characteristic of that of a human limb-human fingers were now visible; the huge talons were gone, though the skin were still of unusual colour.

Merula was no longer making any distressful sound; not even a faint whimper. She just sat there; her back leaned against a clammy wall of the cave. Her left eye still glowed with luminous scarlet colour though.

Almost with a tired expression, Merula watched silently as the faint sepia manifested through the waterfalls that continuously gushed over the mouth of the cave. Merula concluded that it was probably late afternoon already.

The sun had lowered to a certain degree where the faint tangerine rays managed to penetrate slightly through the gushing water of the waterfalls and sent faint illumination inside the cave. It was revealed that the sleeves of Merula's leather top were torn off completely; obviously it happened when her limbs swelled up and mutated hours ago.

Suddenly, Merula sensed a faint movement just several feet to her side. Her eyes moved to that direction and saw a centipede, almost a foot long, crawling on the cave walls towards her. Merula guessed that this creature was about to meet its doom.

When the crawling creature was just about a foot away from her right arm, something moved beneath the skin of Merula's right biceps. At first, it emerged as if a knife was going to cut its way out of the skin, then, in a snap, a snake-like thing grew out of it and stab the creature, literally nailing it against the damp wall of the cave.

In several seconds, the centipede wiggled violently against the thing that had bored into its body. Then, Merula's countenance broke down as if she felt like her whole body was going to explode. She wrapped her swollen arms around herself and stooped on the ground while gritting her teeth; her face practically rubbed against the earth; her black locks brushed against the dump ground.

The snake-like thing connected to her right bicep did not detach from the wriggling centipede on the cave wall. Instead, more had emerged from both of Merula's arms and stabbed the helpless creature to death. It looked like more or less 10 serpents devoured one helpless creature all at the same time and tore its segmented body into several parts. Looking at the whole image, it was like Merula was wrapped in a dark-coloured spider web that grew out from her arms.

Finally, those snake-like things detached from the cave wall and began to dance in the air around Merula like jellyfish tentacles gliding in the water.

Merula tried to calm down as she lay on the ground sideways while trembling. Slowly, her body stopped to shiver. She just lay there silently as the tentacles subsided and disappeared into her skin. She lay there, while staring at the pieces of the centipede strewn at the base of the cave wall. Gooey liquid with sickly colour covered those pieces.

Merula remembered the reason why she kept her body completely covered in leathery. It was to prevent this sort of disgusting thing to happen. She had no full control of her body. She had an odd type of nervous system. If the slightest sign of life would be exposed near her bare skin, excluding her face, her body would automatically execute a deadly stimulus like this. Her skin was so sensitive it was like it had its own eyes and ears and would act on its own; would act offensively against any living thing around it. Wearing leathery was the best solution she discovered to keep her allies safe while she was near them, especially Art and his family.

Merula remembered Artemio and she hoped that he was still alive. She even prayed thoughtfully to God (if ever she believed that He actually exists) to spare the agent's life, even though it was very unlikely that He would heed her prayer, for she was undoubtedly a sinful creature.

Merula remained lying on the ground for several minutes more. Even if she did not look at her arms, she knew they had finally returned to its normal form.

* * *

Marj ambled to the woods carrying a knapsack sprayer on her back. She went specifically to the area where Kurapika and Merula had fought. The sprayer contained pure Hydrogen Peroxide and Marj began to spray over to the area with visible blood stains. Clotted blood and blood stains dissolved into froths as the chemical sprayed over them.

Marj sprayed on tree roots and trunks, on grounds and rocks. Marj would always see minor froths on them. That was good. Either Merula or Kurapika's blood had strewn all over the woods, they needed to be cleared out. Who knows, the organization might have had already scattered its nano-gadgets in the island. Marj could not afford them stumbling in there, and had them noticing and recognizing Merula and Kurapika's specimen in the said area that would verify their whereabouts.

Soon, Marj noticed something shiny at the base of the huge, fallen tree, amidst the heaps of withered and dried leaves and branches. She walked towards it and picked it up. It was Merula's Pendulum ring. She raised it to her eye level and examined closely and carefully. Frowning, she sprayed it with chemical and faint froths emerged from it. After few seconds, Marj went running back to the house.

* * *

Art woke up around 3:00pm. He stepped out of his room and stretched like a cat, yawned and rubbed the back of his neck like a person who had never been wounded from a recent bloody accident. He was wearing a white undershirt and a pair of old loose denim jeans. His left shoulder no longer had that heavy bandage. Someone had probably taken it off, or probably he was not even aware that he had them earlier. The wound was no longer there either.

The agent walked down the steps leading to the bar area in the ground floor. There, he found Marj in her usual position at the counter in front of her laptop, scowling. She wore a headphone on her head and was adjusting the microphone next to her mouth.

"Merula, please answer the gawddamn receiver, damn it!" Art was taken back when he heard his niece exclaimed the words angrily.

"Merula left?" The agent inquired with an eyebrow raised.

Marj opened her mouth, rolled her eyes, turned and looked at her Uncle as if he had said something rude.

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Merula mutated, probably because Kurapika provoked her. We caught the two fighting in the woods, and then you were almost killed!"

Art's hand went from rubbing his nape to fumbling frantically for wounds over his neck and chest. He found no wounds.

"I thought that was just….. a dream." The agent announced incredulously, "But…I ain't got no wounds."

"Riiiiight." Marj announced sarcastically. " Kurapika healed you with her…what do you call that? Nen? Right. Anyway, I can't track Merula."

Abruptly, Marj finally heard something.

"Marj," said the faint voice. Finally, Merula answered. The agent heard it, too, since her voice echoed from the loud speaker of Marj's laptop.

"For pity's sake Merula, where the hell are you?"

"I'm fine."

"I haven't asked you that yet." The frown on Marj's forehead turned deeper.

"I'll be back later. I need a new leather jacket."

"Going shopping, Merula?" Art broke in.

"Artemio, you're alive?" Merula replied.

Art frowned. "You sound like you're not happy to know it."

Marj continued, "Merula, your-"

Then the line went off. From the tone of Merula's voice, she seemed to be perfectly fine indeed. Nevertheless, Marj still looked disappointed.

"Yep, rude as usual." Marj announced and took off the headphone from her head; she could have had smashed the damn thing against the solid wood counter if she haven't had control over her temper, "No doubt she and Kurapika are related!"

Art just stood there and shrugged.

"Where's Kurapika by the way?" The agent asked finally.

"Her room, perhaps." Marj answered as she folded her laptop and walked into the kitchen.

* * *

Kurapika was still feeling weak. She had probably drained herself of aura because she had used her Holy Chain to heal herself and to heal the agent, not to mention that she had lost a lot of blood from her fight against Merula earlier and that her Hatsu had been in maximum usage for hours. That would surely exhaust her.

The Kuruta stood in the shower naked; water was sprinkling all over her. Cuts and bruises were no longer visible on her skin. She was all cleaned up. Her face still manifested the sign of exhaustion though.

The blonde hunter was still probably in deep thoughts when she finished her bath and until she began to dress. She did not remember or notice that the door of her room was unlocked when she came out of the bathroom. Therefore, when the agent suddenly opened the door without knocking, nothing prevented the awkward moment when Kurapika suddenly turned to face him with only a pair of trousers on, her hands raised and clasped onto the bath towel on her head and her whole torso naked.

Kurapika and Art stared silently at each other for a moment with deadpan expression. Funny that it took as long as 3 seconds before each of them reacted-Kurapika screamed on top of her lungs and Art went running for his dear life and tried hard but in vain to dodge every hard object that flew towards him. He was practically crawling his way out of the Kuruta's room when a book with a hard cover and probably as thick as a Bible hit the back of his head and his face went crashing onto the waxed wooden floor of the corridor. Then the door of the blonde hunter's room slammed shut. The force was so strong it almost made the wall shudder.

Kurapika's face was as red as tomato as she leaned against the door. Both of her hands were clasping the towel tightly next to her naked breast; her face was terror-stricken with utter embarrassment. Her cheeks were probably as red as her eyes that had grown as wide as they could go; she was wheezing.

Gradually, the blonde hunter slid down, her back brushed against the door and she ended up sitting on the floor with folded knees; she pressed her face against the towel on her hands to hide her flushed face. This would be one of the most…..or worse yet, the most embarrassing day of her life!

During supper, Art, whose head was wrapped in a bandage and whose face was patched with several band-aids, wasn't able to look at Kurapika directly at the eyes and vice versa. None of the two talked to each other either. Marj, who had heard the Kuruta's scream, stayed silent, too; she probably already knew the reason why these two were acting this way.

* * *

The bar was full of customers that night. The town's annual Fiesta would be tomorrow. Most of the customers at the bar were probably Uncle Rudy's old friends and acquaintances that had recently returned from their work abroad and had decided to visit the old bar and spend an evening drinking there.

The agent, sat along the coffee table at the veranda on the second floor. The veranda was illuminated by a couple of incandescent bulbs which practically made everything covered in tangerine light.

Art was drinking beer alone and he could hear the noises from the bar area below. He did not mind those noises. He would gaze at the shimmering lights of the central town from the distance from time to time. He did not mind the cool wind that blows against him either. The beer he was drinking was enough to warm him up.

Abruptly, Art saw Kurapika standing by the door that led to the unlit corridor. The shadow barely concealed her face.

Reflexively, the agent put the bottle of beer down on the table next to an empty one and to the one that had not been opened yet. The agent stood up and faced the Kuruta who had stepped out of the shadows and walked towards him. Art awkwardly buried his hands deep in his pockets; his eyes moved around uneasily. Obviously, he was still avoiding a direct eye contact with Kurapika.

The blonde hunter, on the other hand, no longer felt the same. She had gathered enough courage to face the agent. Apparently, she had something to discuss with him.

"I'm sorry!" Art and Kurapika said in unison suddenly.

"No, I should be the one apologizing. I didn't mean to-"

"Yeah, I believe you," Kurapika cut the agent. That moment, finally, Art managed to meet her eyes again. He noticed that the Kuruta was wearing black contact lenses.

"Also, I would like to say," Kurapika continued, "thank you…for saving my life. It was a foolish act, yet…I-"

"Thanks for saving my life, too," Art smiled a genuine smile. When Kurapika saw it, somehow it made her cheeks flushed and her heart skip a beat. There must be something special in the agent's smile that always made her feel that way, "Thanks for healing my wound. You really have an awesome…. Nen there."

"I guess we're even then," the blonde hunter replied, Art would probably see a smile on her face if she did not press her lips together and turned sidewards suddenly.

Kurapika stared at the beautiful glittering town from the distance. She leaned over to the wooden railing and breathed the cool air that blows against her. Art noted that the Kuruta's blonde strands glided along the breeze.

"Gawd, she's beautiful!" Art whisphered as he stared at Kurapika.

Kurapika's face turned to the agent. "Huh? Did you say something?"

"Um…uh," Art panicked inside, "I said, do you want to take a seat?"

Art and Kurapika sat along the coffee table while facing each other. There was rather an awkward silence between them suddenly. Art tried to act casually by continuing to drink beer while he secretly stole glances at the blonde hunter who continued to gaze at the beautiful glittering scenery at the distance.

When Kurapika's face turned back in front and met the agent's eyes, practically catching Art staring at her, the agent's cheek flushed faintly; he almost choked and vomit the beer in his mouth.

"Are you alright?" Kurapika asked rather worriedly.

"Yep." the agent squeaked, "Beer won't kill me that easily. Want to have a drink?"

The blonde hunter shook her head and chuckled mildly. Art noted that when Kurapika chuckles, she got that habit of curling her fingers over her mouth, like a conservative _lady_.

Gradually, the smile vanished on Kurapika's face. She gave Art a serious look.

"Art," Kurapika began in a low but serious tone, "Merula, what is she exactly? What happened to her?"

Silence.

Gradually, a grave expression manifested on the agent's face and he appeared to be deep in thought. He turned away, looked at the distance, and then turned back his head in front without meeting the blonde hunter's eyes.

Art put down the empty bottle of beer and leaned his elbows over the table. He formed his hands in a steeple in front of his face to cover his eyes. Then, Kurapika heard the agent begin to sob.

…..to be continued.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

You. Have. No. Idea. How much courage it took me to write this chapter =_=. During that awkward scene, my fingers were practically trembling and couldn't type properly. Perhaps I was blushing hotly; yep, I can feel my cheeks burning. I actually asked a friend of mine to Beta-Read this again, but then something came up. I decided to post this without waiting for the manuscript that has been Beta-read. Perhaps, I will just edit it when I finally get the proof-read one. ^^. Although I asked another one of my friends to take a look at this, though he said that there's nothing much to change, I'm glad that I made him laugh in the awkward part. Somehow, knowing that my writing was effective enough to some people boost my confidence XD. Thanks to that friend of mine, too, he gave me some advice. Somehow, I've changed my perspective about guys. I did not know they know a lot…I'm not going to elaborate what it is about though. LOL.

Anyway, I was planning to discontinue this fanfic actually because I've read an article about professional writers who are against fanfics…one of them was my favourite authors (T.T)…I can't help to feel anxious about it. I hope Togashi isn't angry if ever he is aware of fanfics like this ^^'. I was actually planning to just PM the upcoming chapters to my friends who keep reading this fic. Thanks guys by the way :D. But then suddenly there's a few of you (which I think is a lot enough for me) who want me to PM the manuscript to them, but then I suddenly find it troublesome if I would PM the manuscript to them one by one so I decided to keep posting the upcoming chapters here. ^^ Again, thanks guys for continuously tuning-in to my fanfic.

Anyway, I couldn't think of a proper title for this chapter again :'( Sorry if the title is a bit off ^^'

Anyway…I hope you enjoy this chapter :D


	21. Chapter 20: Revelation: The Siblings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some gory cursing…Set in AU.

**Note:** [Please review….Sorry for some grammar, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^']

* * *

**Chapter 20:**

**Revelation:The Siblings**

_"Truth is like the sun, you can shut it out for a time but it ain't going away."_

_-Daybreakers_

* * *

Art was beginning to reek of beer and Kurapika could smell it. The Kuruta was flabbergasted seeing a man cried in front of her and this was probably the first time she experienced it. She was practically frozen in her sitting position and the least thing she could do was to occasionally cast down her eyes; she did not know what to do. Why did Art cry suddenly anyway? Should Kurapika reach out a handkerchief to the agent? A tissue maybe? But she had neither of them unfortunately.

The blonde hunter heard Art sniffing and coughing. Kurapika looked up and saw the agent taking a couple of gulps of beer.

"Merula was…" Art began in a rather raspy voice as he examined the bottle of beer in his hand; measured how much liquor was still left inside through its reddish brown, translucent glass, "…was probably the strongest girl I've ever met. Not in a physical sense….No." He shook his head a little, then fully emptied the bottle in one gulp and put it down on the table with a thud.

"Kurapika, I hope you don't mind me asking…" Art continued "…How many were you back then…I mean the Kuruta members… in total…that you remember before the massacre occurred 6 years ago**(1)**?"

* * *

_**(1)**__**A/N:**__ In this fanfic, it's been 6 years ago when the Kuruta massacre occurred. That means, it's been 2 years since Kurapika took the hunter's exam. So, Kurapika is 18 years old here since base on Hunter's Wiki, it was mentioned that Kurapika was 12 when the massacre happened._

* * *

Kurapika made a face. The agent assumed that if the Kuruta wasn't wearing black contact lenses, her eyes must be burning with scarlet colour already before she cast her eyes down to the table. Her head bent down a bit; her blonde fringe veiled the upper half of her face and concealed her eyes.

The blonde hunter trembled slightly as she recalled every face of her people; of her family when they were still alive.

"There were 37 of us," Kurapika answered in a grave voice. "36 pairs of scarlet eyes of my people are now scattered in different continents. I have resolved to retrieve all of them no matter what, even if it costs my life."

"Merula has the same resolve," Art announced rather unsympathetically with a sigh. Probably this was the kind of reaction a slightly intoxicated man would make. "Well, almost."

Kurapika lifted her head and revealed her face that was almost close to snapping.

"But why!"Kurapika banged her hands on the table and made the bottles of beer shudder and produce clinking sounds. She stood up and bent over the table as she glared down demandingly at the agent. "What does Merula need the scarlet eyes for? I don't think she seeks them for money. I know there is by far more crucial reason than that."

The agent did not look up at the Kuruta's angry face. Rather, he acted like he did not hear anything nor was he aware of the irate person in front of him. Art grabbed the last bottle of beer and snapped open its metal cap with his teeth and spat the said piece of metal to the floor.

Finally, the agent answered apathetically."Of course. If she knew from the beginning that you're alive, she could have been doing it for revenge."

Kurapika was taken aback. Suddenly, the word 'revenge' struck her mind like a hammer.

"Revenge? To whom?" Kurapika scowled. Examining Art's statement, the phrases _'revenge'_ and _'if you (Kurapika) were alive'_, the vengeance apparently would be against Kurapika. She could have asked the agent, _'is it revenge against me? Against my people? Why? What did we ever do to her?'_

Before she could even put the questions into words, Art spoke up."Please take a seat."

Kurapika obeyed reluctantly.

The blonde hunter watched the agent impatiently as he took another gulp of his beer. Art then proceeded to put the half-empty bottle down next to the two fully-empty ones.

Kurapika squinted when she saw the agent pulling something from the back pocket of his jeans – an old brown leather wallet. He took out something from it. At first, Kurapika thought it was just a small piece of white paper, but it turned out to be an old photograph when Art flipped it and slid it over the table towards her. The agent left the photograph on the part of the table where it was close enough for the blonde hunter to see what was in it.

The edge of the photograph was yellowish, which implied that it was indeed an old one, although the middle was still somewhat in good condition. There was a slanting white line at the lower part of it which implied that the photograph had been folded in that area.

In the photo, there were three people - a man in his early twenties and two children standing next to one another and smiling at the camera except the boy in the middle. The said man was standing in the left, wearing a lab coat and making a peace sign and beaming with enthusiasm.

The girl on the right, who was probably around 8 or 9 years old, was clinging onto the arm of the boy in the middle. She was wearing a seemingly black summer dress with purple hems. Her long, curly, black hair hung loose around her shoulders and ended below her waist. She was smiling, too. Her eyes were mismatched in colour though. Her left orb was silver.

The boy in the middle was wearing a Kuruta wardrobe. He was probably around 14 years old. He was looking at the camera rather suspiciously. He has a pair of round amethyst orbs and a curly black hair; almost the same with the girl beside him, but his was shorter and tied together at the back of his head. A pair of curly locks framed his angelic, but grave countenance.

"Do you recognize… or somehow remember who are in the picture?" The agent asked as he grabbed the bottle of beer and took another gulp again.

"It's you, isn't it?"

The agent raised his eyebrows, relaxed on his chair and grinned.

"I see you have recognized the handsome me eight years ago. But how about the other two?"

"Is this photo real?" Kurapika asked suspiciously.

"I take that answer as a _'No'_." Art sighed. "And yes, it's REAL. You can bet my life that Photoshop hadn't existed yet during the time that photo was taken. So then, it seems you don't remember Miruki."

"Miruki?"

"Merula's older brother. He's not one of the last 36 Kuruta members you remember before the massacre, is he?"

Kurapika examined the photo closer and obviously, the agent was talking about the boy in the middle. She stared at Miruki's eyes and remembered that their colour looks exactly the same with Merula's present left eye. Then, the Kuruta recalled the time when they were in the cave a few days ago when Merula mentioned that her left scarlet eyes was given to her by her Kuruta brother. But Merula said he was already…

"I'm afraid I don't remember him," Kurapika announced in a tone that implied that she was not pleased with this cruel joke.

"Of course you don't!" Art announced as he looked at the blonde hunter accusingly. "He'd already been dead for more than a year before…" The agent stopped, turned his head away and breathed deeply before he completed the sentence, ". . .before the massacre occurred."

The agent gazed at the distance over the wooden railings. Art downed another several ounces of beer and wiped his mouth. He looked really bummed suddenly as if he was going to cry soon.

"I might still be able to remember him, IF he really did exist during that time," Kurapika commented while tilting her head a little to look over at the agent who stared sadly and blankly at a distance; to examine if this behaviour of his was just pretence. But she noted that Art was rather drunk already and usually when a person is drunk, he tends to spill out a lot of information and most of those information are facts.

Art turned and look at the blonde hunter with a frown.

"You callin' me a liar?" Art asked, he sounded a little annoyed. "I ain't going to force you to believe me, but nail me if I'm lying right now. No. I haven't been lying to you ever since I woke up today and I ain't gonna do it tonight and probably not going to do it to you ever again. But - "

The agent stopped for a moment and looked at Kurapika whose face seemed to imply that she was not sure if she has to listen to a drunken person.

The blonde hunter, noticing this, took a deep breath and then said, "Okay, I'll listen."

"Maybe it's true. The Elders of your clan screwed up your memory after that bloodbath almost 8 years ago."

"WHAT?" The blonde hunter exclaimed incredulously. It was like Art's latter statement was a bucket of cold water splashed onto her. "What are you talking about?"

"Your Grandfather, King Khamisi ordered it."

The mention of Kurapika'sgrandfather's name made the blonde hunter's hair rose. She was starting to get convinced that the agent indeed knew something very genuine related to the history of the Kuruta clan.

"How did you -"

"I told you already, didn't I? I was there." The agent pressed with a flourish.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ From this part starts the __**flashback**__. _

_The paragraphs in __**bold**__ letters means the characters who were talking were in present time of the story, in other words, not part of the flashback and apparently most of it would be Art narrating the story in his POV. The ones in __**italic**__ are the flashback itself told in 3__rd__ person POV. I wish I could just start narrating everything in **Art's POV**, but I'm afraid that Art would either be way too OOC or if the story will be narrated in his POV, some important details might get lost, since I believe Art is not the kind of character who can narrate the story in details which includes emotions and etc...Well, anyhow, I hope you understand what I mean. ^^_

* * *

"**I was just 22, a student in Genetics when my professor asked me to assist him in a project." Art continued."It was 9 years ago when I first set foot in Rukuso Region with Professor Han. We were planning to camp and conduct a project there about a certain group of people with an unusual eye colour. You know already whom I'm talking about, right?**

"**It wasn't easy though. They were somewhat severe and reclusive. I mean…we were there for just a day and a half and we met some of them pointing their weapons at us."**

_True. The next morning after Art and Professor Han arrived at the coast of Rukuso Region, when Art got out of their tent built in the woods, he met 5 Kurutas on horses pointing swords and spears at him and he was frozen for a moment in a crouching position in his inner shirt and pajama with both hands raised in the air. Feeling nervous, he called the professor._

_When Professor Han got out, he immediately imitated Art's gesture and said the words loud and clear, "We have come in peace."_

_Art felt like they were aliens from another planet when he heard his professor spoke the words in his oriental accent._

_Art and Professor Han heard one of the Kurutas; the one who was__ riding__on __a black __horse and who seemed to be the leader, replied in a foreign language with a solid tone, as if implying a command. Nonetheless, they could not understand what exactly it meant._

"_We are people of science and medicine. We mean you no harm. We are here just to conduct some studies." Art announced humbly. What he said could be a lie though._

_The Kuruta on a black horse put down his sword and when he stirred his horse to the side, Art noted that he was just a kid – a boy around 14 years old with a black curly hair and angelic face, and a pair of big amethyst orbs. Nonetheless, he was giving off an aura of a brave warrior._

"_From whose fiefdom are you?" The Kuruta boy with the amethyst eyes demanded. The accent reflected his original language._

_Art and Professor Han looked at each other, confused, and then they looked back up at the boy._

"_Are you talking about our country's president?" Art inquired hesitantly. The boy frowned, the kind of frown indicating he did not understand the question._

"_You shall not bring about damage to the natural resources of this Kingdom and you shall not go near around the walls. Otherwise, there shall be harmful consequences for the both of you." The boy warned as he stirred his horse, ready to set off._

"_Like what?" Art said jokingly but when he met the boy's glare again, he regretted it immediately. Art noted that he saw the boy's eyes flickered with red colour in a brief moment which sent some shivers in his spine._

"_DEATH."The boy announced firmly and pointed his sword at him again. The tip of his sword was just a foot away from Art's forehead, "Next time we meet, it will not be a mere warning anymore." The boy drew his sword. "Leave now, strangers!"_

_Then,the boy gave his horse a mild kick on its flank while yelling 'Hyaa!' and galloped away with the other Kurutas, leaving Art trembling for a moment with his professor._

**Art hooted with laughter at the memory as he set down the third empty bottle of beer on the table. He rested his head over his folded arm at the edge of the said furniture as he continued to laugh.**

** "And that was the day I met Merula's brother for the first time." The agent guffawed. "Hahahaha! He was such a little snob I tell 'ya! A cute one though."**

** Kurapika was beginning to suspect the agent's mentality. At first, he was crying, now he was laughing so hard and she did not even find such thing to be funny.**

"_Did you see that, Professor?" Art inquired while he stirred a ladle into a pot of boiling soup he was cooking for breakfast. The fire beneath it was almost gone though._

"_You mean the red eyes?" Professor Han answered._

"_You mean, those savages are our subjects of the study?" It was more like an incredulously exclaimed statement than a question._

** "How dare you call us savages!" Kurapika complained angrily with a scowl.**

** "Look, sorry. That was just my personal outburst because of Miruki, okay? I didn't mean it."**

"_They don't look like savages to me," Professor Han commented as he took a spoonful of soup into his mouth, "Did you see their clothes? The way they speak. Not to mention they look really clean. They look well-civilized."_

"_Even if they look damn well-civilized, it doesn't mean they're gonna welcome us with arms wide open like other countries do to some tourists." Art replied __bitterly. "It's more like they're going to butcher us if they ever lay their eyes on us again. And now that I mentioned it, how exactly are we going to conduct our studies about them?"_

_There was a silence that took almost half a minute._

"_Maybe a strand of hair from one of them or a small sample of blood is enough." Professor Han answered finally._

"_Do you think we can determine how their red eyes work by just taking specimens from them other than an actual eyeball? I mean if one of them would be willing to donate an eyeball, that'll make our work easier but NO! Apparently, that's quite impossible! And hello? Are you kidding me? It's our blood that's goin' to be spilled if we attempt getting even a single damn strand of hair from one of them, let alone a fucking blood sample! I don't wanna die yet. My wife and baby daughter still need me! Sorry for the cuss word professor."_

_Professor Han gave Art a sad smile. "Fair enough."_

"_So I guess, we're gonna head back soon eh?"_

"_Giving up already?"_

"_Apparently. How about you? Don't tell me…"_

"_Let's stay here for a week. We can try talking our way to them."_

"_Heck! We can just go gansta' on them if we CAN. The thing is…we CAN'T. Talk our way? That would be an awesome idea IF they haven't slit our throat yet before we even try to."_

"_Don't be such a pessimist. I have so much hope on you. That's why I chose you to come with me." The professor patted Art's back._

"_…Hey wait, Professor Han, what do you mean by that?"_

_Abruptly, Professor Han's cell phone rang and he excused himself to answer it. He walked several meters away from Art and started talking in a low voice._

_Art on the other hand suddenly turned his head sharply to the side when he suddenly got a feeling that someone was secretly watching them. He looked around but there was no one else there except him and the professor. He tried to listen more carefully but all he could hear were forest animal noises. Art hoped that there were no wild and fierce animals that would come to their camp and attack them and cause them trouble, but that seemed unlikely._

_Fortunately, no such event occurred on that day._

** "Using binoculars, we learned about the wall that Miruki was talking about. The wall he warned us to stay away from. The entire tribe of Kuruta was enclosed in a stone wall at the base of the Rukuso mountain range. We saw a pyramid from over the edge of that wall which we would later learn that that was where the royal family lives.**

** "On our fourth day of our stay, that fateful late afternoon, that's when I met his little sister."**

_Art was out hunting for food – fruits and wild berries ( or so his instinct told him) were safe enough to eat. He was about 200 meters away from the camp where he was picking something that looked like blue berries, when someone spoke to him from somewhere nearby in foreign language. He recognized it as the voice of a girl. Base on its tone, the voice sounded like it was asking a question._

_He craned over his shoulder but found no one around._

"_Hello?" Art inquired suspiciously. "Is anyone out there?"_

_He heard the voice again in the same tone with the same words in foreign language._

_Suddenly, a fruit peeling dropped from above. Art looked up and saw a girl in black summer dress sitting on a tree branch above him. She has a long, black wavy hair that ends below her waist. She was probably about 8 or 9 years of age and she was eating some kind of yellow fruit._

_Art stood up warily without taking his eyes away from the girl._

"_Hello there," Art greeted with a smile._

_The girl smiled back briefly at him, and then continued to eat her fruit. Some yellowish stuff was smudged around her mouth._

"_I'm Art. What's your name?"_

_The girl took another bite from the fruit, munched it and swallowed it before answering._

"_Merula."_

"_Merula, is that your name?"_

_The girl nodded._

"_Then, can you understand me?"_

"_Little."_

"_How did you get up there?"_

"_Me climb tree."_

"_Ah, of course." Art suddenly got the urge to smack himself for asking such a stupid question. But if he think about it, for a little girl like Merula in her age with such a small body to be able to climb a tree was rather unbelievable._

"_You kill yourself?"_

"_What?"_

"_You get that berries, you killing yourself?"_

"_Huh? No, no!"_

"_But you pick them, if you eat them, you are dead."_

_Art looked down at the purple berries accumulated on a huge leaf he held on his arm, and then looked back up again at the girl who was wiping her mouth clean. She was done eating the fruit._

"_You mean these are poisonous berries?" Art asked in an alarmed tone. The girl simply nodded._

_Art dropped the leaf to the ground. The berries scattered about next to his feet, "Woah! Shit! That was close!"_

_The next thing Art saw, the girl was swinging onto the tree branch by her petite arms. Then, she released her hold and dropped to the ground and landed on her feet. Art could not help but to be impressed._

_He noticed something about the girl's face though. Her eyes were mismatched in colour. Her right orb was as black as her hair while the other one was silver or light grey._

_Her countenance looked familiar, too. Soon, it dawned on him that the girl's face somehow had a resemblance to the black-haired Kuruta boy they encountered 2 days ago._

_The girl noted that Art was looking at her in a funny way so she began to retreat._

"_Wait! Merula?"_

_The girl stopped, turned her head and looked at Art inquiringly with her mouth nibbling on her curved finger. This innocent image of her somehow touched Art's heart. How vulnerable she looked._

"_Erm…Are you a Kuruta?"_

_The girl shook her head. "Brother."_

"_Brother?"_

"_My Brother. There." Merula pointed at the direction of the walled kingdom._

"_Then you live there, too, right?"_

_Merula shook her head again and pointed at the opposite direction._

"_There."_

"_You live there?" Art frowned at the direction where Merula was pointing her finger to. All he could see were thick shrubs and trees, but then he assumed that probably, there was another tribe living behind those greeneries._

** "And I was right. We found another tribe living at the borders of Rukuso region by the river at the very heart of the forest. The Hematites - there were probably about 50 or 60 of them. We learned that Merula's mother was a pure Hematite. Daughter of the Hematites' Chieftain in fact. And I gotta admit she was one HOT mother!"**

** Art could discern from the corner of his eyes that Kurapika had raised an eyebrow at his latter sentence. The agent cleared his throat nervously and proceeded with his tale.**

** "So, because of the turn of events, our stay in Rukuso was prolonged. The Hematites weren't as severe as the Kurutas though, but not as civilized as them. They didn't even have horses.**

"**We were able to talk to some of them easily and learned that they used to be Nomads until their chieftain's daughter met the love of her life – Merula's father. He was a Kuruta."**

** "But that couldn't be," Kurapika broke in. Her expression seemed to imply that she could not accept a certain piece of fact. "Our law forbids us to have close relationship with outsiders.****"**

** Art leaned forward to Kurapika with a narrow, scrutinizing ****eyes.**

** "Kurapika, have you ever fallen in love so deeply before?"**

**The blonde hunter flinched and blushed.**

"**Some people do crazy things when they're in love, do you know that? Even me." Art grinned. The Kuruta could not answer. She remembered Art's Uncle saying the same thing during that time the agent was still unconscious and fighting for his life after he had saved her from Merula's deadly attack.**

** "But – "**

** "Anyway," Art continued, interrupting Kurapika. "We had confirmed it. It was Merula's brother alright. He was that black-haired boy who pointed a sword at me together with 4 more Kurutas during our second day in Rukuso. I learned about his name from Merula herself."**

* * *

_Merula's knees were folded under her chin as she sat beside Art on a dried trunk of a fallen tree near the camp, sobbing. She had told him that her Kuruta father left together with her older brother for the walled kingdom and had started living there since she was 5. The Kuruta tribe, mainly because of Merula's father's request, let the Hematite tribe stayed at the borders of the Kingdom as much as they wanted, provided that they would conform to the given conditions. Merula hardly saw or talked to her father ever since then. She did not mention about her communication with her brother, but nonetheless she hated the fact that they could not be together as a complete family ever again. That thought was what always made her cry._

_ "Nawww….." Art told Merula reassuringly as he patted her back gently. "You can at least visit them, can't you?"_

_ "No, no, no!" Merula squeaked between sobs, "Grandfather get mad! Father get mad!"_

_ "I can't imagine a parent getting mad for no reason if he sees his kid come just because his kid wants to see him," Art said irately._

_ "Me no Kuruta. Me should not go to the walled tribe. Me don't have red eyes. Only brother and father. Me wish have red eyes, too. But I don't."_

_ "Geez, that's just blatant discrimination! Somehow it makes me mad!" Art pulled a cigarette from the chest pocket of his lab coat and was about to light it when he noticed Merula looking at the stick in his mouth curiously._

_ "Sorry. I shouldn't do this. It's not a good example for kids." Art announced and banished the cigarette back into his chest pocket, "Stay here, I'll be back a.s.a.p."_

_ Merula nodded and obeyed what she was told._

_ Art came back with a colourful children's storybook with the title 'Rapunzel'. It was the book he was planning to take home for her baby daughter Lina, who would be celebrating her first birthday in two months. He did hope that he would be home by that time then._

_He learned that Merula could read somehow, but not in Roman characters. He decided to read a story for Merula to cheer her up. Well, he succeeded in some way._

_Soon, Merula was imitating Art on how he had told the stories to her with feelings, gesture and voice acting. Art also watched the girl spin on her heels gracefully; her skirt swaying back and forth as she did so as she tried to imitate a princess dancing with a prince. She was such a darling, Art thought._

_Merula was smiling then and that made Art smile, too. He thought maybe Lina would be like her when she grew up. What a joy that would be!_

"_Maybe she is a Rapunzel," Merula suddenly announced when she stopped and stared at the top of the pyramid that was poking out over the walls of the Kuruta tribe from the distance. Art glanced briefly to where she was staring._

"_Who?"_

"_The princess. She is there," Merula pointed at the top of the pyramid which looked like a temple if one would examine it, she began to dance again playfully. "A Rapunzel is there. Brother always look after her."_

"_Oh? How did you know?" Art smiled rather mischievously, "Did you sneak in and saw her?"_

_Merula looked surprised suddenly, the kind of surprise like she was caught doing something bad. She leaned forward and put a finger over her mouth._

"_Sssssssshh," and she nodded, "Don't tell others."_

"_Okay. I promise." Art whispered with a smile and raised a handon shoulder level – an emphasis that he was making a promise, "I won't tell anyone. So what does the Princess look like?"_

"_She is like Rapunzel!" Merula announced cheerfully with arms spread open and she began to dance playfully again around Art, "She has long, long, looooooooonnnngggg, yellow hair! And…and blue eyes. She is beautiful!"_

_While Merula recalled an image of a golden-haired girl the same age as her, Art imagined a blonde hot babe who was probably close to his wife's image (a little younger though) who was wearing a provocative royal Kuruta gown._

_Suddenly, sadness invaded Merula's countenance._

"_I wish my hair is yellow, too, and my eyes blue, so I'll be beautiful."_

_Art suddenly snapped to reality."But Merula, you ARE beautiful." He prompted._

"_No, I'm NOT!" Merula pouted, "My hair is black and my eyes are not blue and they don't become red."_

_Art heaved a long sigh. He felt sorry for the girl._

"_I wish I am like Princess Kurapika. Then my brother will look after me, too."_

….to be continued.

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**Author's Note:**

_ First, I wanna thank __**Runandra/Funchan**__ for helping me out with the proof-reading of this chapter. I wasn't feeling well when I wrote this so I need some help. And for some reasons, since it's been so long since I last updated it, I felt that it's about time that I do. _

_It's finally the start of the damn __**REVELATION**__! Yay! From here on, a lot of questions will be answered, which includes Merula's origin, Merula's relation to the Kurapika/Kuruta tribe, etc..._

_Before, I was so looking forward to reach this part. I was so excited to write the revelation but ironically when I'm finally here, I always feel lazy updating it LOL. ^^' (nervous laugh) But fortunately, now I managed to update it again, so here it is._

_I also like to thank everyone who reviewed this fanfic (whether here itself or through PMs or through FB PMs LOL) I really appreciate it and I hope you keep them coming._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. =D_


	22. Chap 21: Promises X Taboo Child

010

Hunter x Hunter Fanfic Em-em-chan/Taboo Eyes

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some cursing …Set in AU.

**Note:** [Please review….Sorry for some grammar, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^']

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**Chapter 21**

**Revelation:**

**Promises x Taboo Child**

_ The King had called for him. Miruki always kept in mind that it was absolutely out of the question to be late when His Higness demanded for his presence. He had been struggling to please the royal household for more than three years since he was accepted as part of the Kuruta tribe. His father always reminded him to be a good boy - to never anger the King, his grandfather._

_ Though Miruki was considered as part of the Kuruta's Royal household just by being a son of his father, deep down he never really took it at heart, but he carried out the given responsibilities seriously. However, he would hear insinuations that questioned his legitimacy as a Kuruta and it often happened whenever he walked among the other Kurutas or sat among them during court meetings, thus, he always reminded his self that he was not completely part of this tribe. Besides, having Scarlet Eyes was the only reason why he was there within the walled Kingdom but it did not mean he would receive a special treatment even when his father was a prince; he was not even treated fair like those of average pure-blooded Kurutas for the fact remained that he was only a half-blood._

_The Kuruta tribe just could not let him be outside the walled kingdom with those Scarlet Eyes of his. Scarlet Eyes, after all, were the very emblem of their tribe and they ought to be insulated from the perilous outside world. The Kuruta tribe took Miruki in as an act of mercy in order for him to be safe among the Kuruta members inside the walled kingdom. Besides, if he wandered outside the tribe with the Hematites who were nomads, it was very likely that because of his Scarlet Eyes, he would attract unwanted attention from some greedy mercenaries or random cutthroats and be hunted and killed because of it. The idea of letting a pair of Scarlet Eyes fall into the hands of obnoxious strangers was a stigma to Kuruta tribe's pride. Also, it would seem so heartless for the King of Kuruta to let such thing happen to Miruki, though he was not a pure-blooded Kuruta, the fact still remained that he was his grandson. The King also believed that Miruki's mother and her tribe had no ability to protect him, or Miruki to protect himself. It was best if he lived with them inside the walls of the kingdom and he could just express his gratitude by serving the tribe itself._

_But Miruki was nothing short of being grateful to the Kuruta tribe. He had never pushed himself to them. Probably quite the opposite, in fact. He never wanted to leave his mother and younger sister, he would rather stay with the Hematites, but given the above mentioned reasons, he had no choice. Morever, there was an agreement between him, his father and the King – to let the Hematites reside inside the border of Rukuso. At least, that way, Miruki knew that his beloved mother and his sister were near and safe and that he could steal some chances of seeing and meeting them._

_However, the responsibilities given to him had rather deprived him of such chances recently. Miruki was beginning to suspect that the King did not want him to maintain his communication with his mother and sister or to anyone from the Hematite tribe anymore. But he never dared ask his father or the King to confirm it. It would be safer to stay silent. It would be best for him not to engage himself and the King in a conversation that would likely turn into an argument. Despite all these, Miruki was not planning to just sit around and do nothing._

_The residence of the royal family lay in the second tier from the top of the ziggurat. The enormous door leading to the King's Hall opened for him and he walked with dignity towards the end of the room where King Khamisi was sitting on his throne, waiting._

_The King was a man in his early fifties. His hair and beard were white but his body suggested that he was still strong enough to draw a weapon in a war. His countenance wore the usual graveness, as he beheld Miruki before him. A necklace with a golden pendant[1] with a dragon-like shape with a series ruby stones fastened in the middle, glimmered together with another necklace with a fairly small diamond pendantover his Kuruta ensemble._

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**A/N: [1]** If you ca n remember the Hunter X Hunter anime 1999 version **episode 18**, when the hunter examinees searched for some treasures, Kurapika found this **necklace** in a shipwreck. In the Filipino dubbed anime aired in my country (the Philippines), if I recall correctly, it was mentioned that the **pendant** was owned by the Kuruta King. So to be honest, all these monarchy idea was inspired by the said anime episode, although it was not really included in the manga ^^'

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_Miruki kneeled before the King with his head bent low._

"_My Lord," Miruki greeted urbanely._

"_I have heard there are strangers who had set foot in the forest just recently." King Khamisi began._

"_Yes, My Lord," Miruki answered, "They claimed to be people of science and medicine. There are only two of them in fact, Sire. Nonetheless, we have given them warning and have ordered them to leave immediately but-"_

"_People of science? Of medicine?" King Khamisi interrupted. "People from the modern city, I presume. What would such people need from this land? Or should I say, from us?"_

_Miruki swallowed nervously._

"_If you wish to rid of them of them, then I shall—"_

"_No need." King Khamisi announced, "Let them be for a while. There is no need to act against them unless they do something hateful."_

"_As you wish, My Lord."_

"_Rise." The King ordered._

_Miruki straightened up slowly, raised his head and looked up at the King._

"_How is your sister doing?"_

_Miruki suddenly began to feel nervous hearing such question from the King._

"_She's probably doing well, My Lord."_

"_Probably?"_

"_. . . . ."_

"_Pardon me, Your Royal Highness," suddenly, a girl's voice._

_Miruki and King Khamisi turned their heads to the side. At the right side of the King's throne, a golden-haired girl poked her head out of the opening of the door along the wall._

"_Ah, Princess Kurapika," said the King, "please come in, my dear."_

_The girl stepped in and revealed herself in casual Kuruta attire – an ensemble with long sleeves and trousers and flat shoes. There was a pair of short swords hidden in their scabbards hanging along both sides of her waist. She curtseyed before the King._

"_Your Majesty, I hope you don't mind if I borrow Miruki for a bit?" Princess Kurapika asked._

_Several minutes later, Miruki and the Princess were walking on a grassy path outside the walls of the tier._

"_You looked quite anxious back there," the Princess commented as Miruki walked behind her. "What was Grandfather telling you?"_

"_I was not anxious," Miruki replied, "The King was just asking me a question. It was not a serious one though. But it does not matter."_

_Kurapika turned and walked backwards, scowling at Miruki, "You are a bad liar."_

_Miruki made a puzzled expression. The Princess smiled then._

"_Nevermind."_

_Eventually, the children reached a spacious garden. The soil was covered with Bermuda grass and there were flowering plants and trees along the walls that were enclosing it._

"_I hope you bring your sword with you," Kurapika announced._

"_I do. I always have it with me. A warrior must not leave his weapon behind ever."_

"_Good. Now, take it out, please."_

"_I believe you have already someone else as your official partner for your sword training, Princess."_

"_This will not be an average practice between us, my dear cousin." Kurapika drew both of her swords and immediately set herself in a stance. "I'm asking you to make a deal with me. And this match will determine who is going to do a favour for who."_

"_A deal?"_

_The princess lunged forward and swung her right sword against Miruki but he was quick enough to draw his own sword and blocked it. Her strength was rather surprising for a 9-year-old girl. Kurapika spun and swung her other sword towards Miruki's stomach, but was again blocked._

"_Yes. If I won, you will let me see your sister."_

"_WHAT?" Miruki's eyes grew wide in surprise._

_Their swords clashed several times, producing clanking sounds that echoed in the entire garden._

"_You heard me. You can bring her here."_

"_But Princess!" Miruki protested. Suddenly, Kurapika delivered a repeated attack; her hands swinging the swords one after the other in great speed. Miruki would either block it by his sword or dodge it. Both Kurutas would either swing the sword or block an attack. "But Princess, even if you won, the King will simply not allow me to abide with your condition."_

_Miruki was the one who would do the blocking the most; he was too scared to attack, for he might hurt the princess._

"_Let me remind you that the Kingdom does not allow non-Kuruta members, unless it is the King's order." Apparently, the Princess was not listening._

_Kurapika swung both of her swords vertically at the same time and was blocked by Miruki's sword again. The princess's blade formed an 'x' against her cousin's sword that was angled horizontally._

"_And my sister…"_

_Kurapika jumped backwards, bound from the ground and lunged again, swinging her sword repeatedly. It made Miruki marched a step backwards by each strike the princess made. Kurapika's swords clashed against Miruki's blade__ repetitively__ like before._

"…_.I don't think the King will allow her to come inside the wall."_

_Kurapika jumped back again and set in a stance but with a saddened face._

"_Why not? She is my cousin, too, is she not?"_

"_I'm afraid such reason is not even enough to convince the King. And the King has been aware of it for a long time, yet he would not—"_

"_Fine, then you shall take me to her."_

_Kurapika walked warily to the side. Her swords were raised to nose level, concealing the lower part of her face. Seriousness returned to her countenance._

"_Cousin, please take me seriously or you will lose."_

_Miruki's eyes narrowed. Kurapika spun towards him swinging her swords like a tornado. Her cousin managed to block both swords with his own, but the Princess whirled abruptly and delivered a roundhouse kick, targeting Miruki's ribs, but the boy's arm was quick enough to shield it._

"_You're getting good, Princess."_

"_Thank you."_

_Kurapika spun to the opposite direction, her sword aiming to land against Miruki's neck. Miruki raised both of his hands together to form an 'x' in front him, and the Princess's wrist landed in between his hands, trapping her hand in the mid-air and preventing her from swinging the sword towards him. _

_With the Princess trapped in that manner for a moment,__ Miruki took the chance and snaked one hand around Kurapika's arm to pin her down__. However, before the boy could even succeed, the Princess, managed to free__ her arm out of the boy's grasp quickly before her cousin could even lock his fingers onto it, then she__ swung her other sword towards Miruki's face. The boy jumped away to avoid the attack. Kurapika whirled, spinning like a tornado again; her sword barely cut the ends of Miruki's hair __when__ he kneeled to the ground.__ Then the boy lunged when he saw an opening on the Princess._

_CLANK!_

_A sword sailed through the air in a perfect arc; spinning like a wheel as it sailed so, and its blade stabbed into the earth as it reached the ground._

_ "It's not over yet," Kurapika announced with a smirk __and__ she set into a fighting stance __again but__ with only one sword remaining in her hands. Her cousin stood in front of her in an offhand pose; simply holding the sword between him and the princess and looking displeased._

_ "And what if I win?"_

_ "Then I will owe you a favour. And I shall repay it with favour."_

_ "Fine then."_

_ Miruki moved forward suddenly in a speed the Princess could barely see. Kurapika was so surprised that she failed to even move her sword in an inch. __However, just when she was expecting her cousin to reach closer, he disappeared._

_When she turned her head halfway to search for Miruki, the boy__ was already standing behind her. __She froze after seeing that Miruki was already holding his sword under her chin; the sharp edge almost touching her skin. For several seconds, she stared at her cousin's piercing eyes so closely over her shoulder. It sent shivers down her spine. For moment, Kurapika thought she saw someone else in Miruki, like he was not the cousin she knew. Then the boy's grave expression softened and a smile drew on his face._

_ "Well, Princess. It appears that we have a winner." Miruki stepped back and banished his sword into its scabbard._

_ Then, Miruki saw the princess pouting. Beads of tears were threatening to fall from the edge of her eyes; __her orbs were__ beginning to burn like ember._

_ Miruki heaved a sigh._

* * *

_It was a fine day. Art was __laying his back insouciantly__ on a huge stone perched by the shore of a stream at the heart of the woods, waiting patiently for a fish to bite at the bait of his fishing rod. He was lying on his back with his arms serving as pillows under his head. The shade of the trees protected him from the __direct__ heat of the sun. The cool, gentle breeze __blew__ from time to time, making the leaves dance and Art's brown fringe flutter over his forehead. Art thought __that__ it was more like they were having a vacation than conducting a project. They had been camping in Rukuso Forest for more than a week and they hadn't even gotten a piece of specimen they needed for their project to progress. Professor Han was persistent and stubborn, though. He __refused__ to give up. He would not leave until he got what he wanted. Art, on the other hand, could not leave the professor alone._

_ "It's more like we're procrastinating," Art thought, "I miss Diana and my baby girl."_

_ Art took out his wallet and opened it. He smiled at the picture of a blonde woman smiling at the camera and carrying a newborn baby to her bosom. Beside them was Art himself kissing the baby's forehead._

_Suddenly, a shadow loomed over Art. He pulled himself into sitting position and shoved his wallet back into the back pocket of his jeans. The shadow was Merula._

"_Hello, Mister." The girl tilted her head and grinned._

_Art gave Merula a long silent stare and his best poker face he could ever show. The girl's smile banished._

"_What is the matter?"_

"_Man, you are UGLY!"_

_At first, Merula looked shocked. Soon, her mismatched eyes became glassy until tears began to stream down her cheeks; her lips began to quiver. Then Merula wailed at the top of her lungs._

"_UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

"_Woah! Woah! I was just joking, okay!" Art declared apologetically, waving his hands defensively, "I was just testing you if you are really not a Kuruta. __Well, your eyes certainly didn't glow red when you started crying."_

_Merula's wail reduced into hiccoughs and sniffs, and then she glowered at Art._

"_I'm sorry, okay. You are NOT ugly," Art prompted._

"_Me not a Kuruta, me told you already!" Merula sat beside the man._

"_Yeah, I know." Art sighed. Suddenly, something dawned on him and made him look at Merula like he had swallowed a fly._

"_Merula, do you meet your brother still?"_

"_Rarely." Merula looked down, looking sad._

"_But you can still meet him, right? I mean, the two of you are close. He is nice to you, right?"_

_The girl shook her head and then nodded._

_Art looked confused for a moment, trying to figure out what the girl meant by shaking her head. That probably meant 'no' and the nodding meant 'yes'. It took several seconds before Art understood that the girl was saying that she was not sure when she would meet her brother, and that 'yes', her brother was nice to her. He was HER brother, after all._

_Art breathed deeply, "Would do something for me, please?"_

"_What is it?"_

_Art bent his head close to Merula's ear and whispered something._

_Merula blinked._

_Abruptly, they heard a horse's neigh._

"_MERULA!" An angry boy's voice came from behind. Art and the girl stood up, turned and saw Miruki getting off from his horse. Then he walked hurriedly towards them. His eyes burned vividly like round embers._

"_Unhand my sister, you ruffian!" The boy demanded as he drew his sword and pointed it at Art._

"_WOAH! Woah! Woah! Woah! Wooooaaaah!" Art waved his hand defensively. "Ruffian? Speak for yourself, brat! Who exactly is pointing a sword to a defenceless person here?"_

"_No! No! No! No! No! Miruki, no!" Merula jumped in between Art and her brother, "Miruki, he is my friend. Please do not hurt him! He is good!"_

"_He is an outsider, Merula. A stranger! You cannot trust someone like him. And YOU!" Miruki drew his sword closer to Art's face; it made the man move several steps backwards. "I have told you to leave, have I not?"_

"_Brother! No! He is my friend!" Merula cried as she spread her arms wide to defend Art from Miruki. "He read me stories. He said I'm not ugly, not like the boys and girls back in the village who said I am. If you make him go, I will be lonely again! UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

_Miruki froze, dumbfounded by his sister's latter statement. He knew that his sister was suffering the same way like he did. They were both stuck in places where most people could not accept who exactly they were. How he __wish__ed that he was the only one who had to suffer like this and not his sister. He did not mind himself, but it was absolutely more painful for him to see her little sister suffering as well. And he hated himself for not being able to do something about it. If only he could-_

_Miruki drew away his sword, "Merula, please come with me."_

_Hesitantly, the girl walked towards her brother as her __sobs__ subsided slowly. She turned and looked at Art. __The brown-haired man__ saw Merula open her mouth and __formed__ the words silently, "I will be back". Then she waved good bye to him._

_Miruki gave Art a sharp glare before he and her sister climbed onto the horse and galloped away, __leaving Art flabbergasted._

_Miruki and Merula arrived in a secret place where Princess Kurapika was waiting. Miruki's sister peeked __from behind her brother__ as she and Miruki walked towards the Kuruta princess. The blonde girl curtseyed before the shy Merula __who had been nibbling a curved finger because of nervousness__. Miruki stepped aside to reveal his sister completely._

"_It is nice seeing you again, Merula." Kurapika greeted with a smile._

_Miruki bent down and whispered something to her sister's __ear__. Immediately, Merula took away her hand from her mouth and curtseyed before the princess._

"_It's nice seeing you again, too, Your Majesty."_

_Kurapika tilted her smiling head, "Please, you may call me Kurapika."_

_Merula lifted her head and looked at the princess from head to toe. She noted her well-combed golden hair tied neatly together in a ribbon, resting over her shoulder and ends bellow her knees. Merula thought, she does look like Rapunzel from the story book that her friend, Art, showed to her. She also looked quite refined in her royal Kuruta attire, under her cloak. Merula also noticed the shimmer of her earrings that were barely concealed in her blond hair. She remembered that her brother, Miruki, was wearing a necklace with a pendant of the same stone._

"**Merula told me, you and his brother were really close. That was how she saw it. And to be honest, when she was telling me that, I could sense some jealousy in her words. I couldn't blame her though...I mean, she always missed her brother for not always being able to be with ****him**** because Miruki was always busy living his life inside the walls of your tribe. And she always assumes that Miruki spends more time with you than her.**

"**But she could not hate you that time, Kurapika. She took you as her friend. Because you made a promise to her."**

_Merula and the princess sat on the soft, grassy ground under the shade of a tree, enjoying making crowns made of wild flowers for each other. Golden chrysanthemums and purple irises surrounded the two girls while autumn leaves fell around them as the gentle breeze blew. The whole scene almost looked ethereal. _

_Miruki thought, as he watched them silently from nearby, the two looked like princesses from completely different kingdoms with completely opposite qualities. Princesses that represented Ying and Yang. Merula's dark hair and eyes and black dress were obviously the converse of the Princess's golden locks, cerulean orbs and bright coloured Kuruta attire. They __looked almost like __personifications of dark and light, though both have gentle personality._

_Miruki knew that Princess Kurapika was one lonely girl herself. She was always confined inside the walls of the tribe; bound with the daily strict education and rigorous training of being a princess and of being the future heir to the throne. Merula had confessed to her brother, Miruki, that she __once__ sneaked into the ziggurat to look for him. His sister ended up in the Princess's room when the guards pursued her. That was Merula and Kurapika's first meeting._

_After the princess learned that Merula was related to Miruki, Kurapika became interested in her; fascinated by the unusual colour of her eyes and hair that she did not always see on other kids in the Kuruta tribe except on Miruki himself. She found them quite stunning that she even mentioned that she wish she had hair and eyes like hers. The princess mentioned to Miruki what she had read about the black colour—that black was a mysterious colour and it provided sense of potential and possibility. Not that it actually reflected a person's personality, but its meaning, as few may believed, might rather amplify its beauty in a metaphorical sense. And to those who knew such meaning of colour, they might view those who wore black in a more fascinating way than those who just saw it as part of one's exterior._

_On the other hand, Miruki had realized since long time ago how Princess Kurapika and his sister differed on their way of living. The contrast was obviously vast. He felt quite sorry about his sister and he always hated himself __for not being able to provide a better life for her like the Princess had__. But he never lost his hope. One day, he would probably be able to change everything._

"_Kurapika?"_

"_Hmm?"_

"_When you grow up, you will be queen?"_

_Kurapika lowered her head, __half-concealed from the black-haired girl__; as a sad smile appeared on her face "Yeah, I guess so."_

"_Then…" Merula took a deep breath as she gathered all the courage to say the words, "you will let me see my brother everyday when you are queen?"_

_Kurapika raised her head and looked at Merula, __looking__ surprised._

"_You will let me and Miruki be together again and you will let me see my father, too? Please? Because we are friends, right?"_

_The princess's heart sunk when she saw Merula's glassy eyes; she looked like she __was__ going to cry __soon__. Kurapika put a hand on Merula's shoulder gently and gave the girl a reassuring look._

"_I promise, I will work hard to become the queen. And when that happens, I will let you into our tribe and you can be together with your father and Miruki forever."_

_Merula smiled and took the princess in a tight embrace while she imagined those promises coming true. She imagined herself running towards the open arms of her father and brother, of the three of them reuniting with her mother. Mother would never cry again, Merula happily declared thoughtfully. The four of them would live happily together __once more__. She pulled away from the princess and then put the crown of chrysanthemums on Kurapika's head and smiled. The Princess smiled back._

* * *

_The next day, Merula visited Art and Professor Han's camp again. Art noted that the girl had been rubbing her left eyes as she walked towards their tent._

"_You okay?" Art inquired anxiously._

_Merula raised her head and looked up, revealing a dull countenance. The brown-haired man noticed that something had changed on the girl's left orb._

"_Merula?" Art cupped the girl's face with his hands and looked at her eye closely. The iris was no longer silver. It was golden brown. Professor Han; who had been peering into the microscope, turned away from the instrument and watched his student and Merula with curiosity._

"_Are you wearing a contact lens?"_

"_What is contact lens?" Merula replied weakly with a hollow voice._

_When Art pulled away, he also noted that Merula looked really tired, like she had done something that really exhausted her recently. His hands felt the clamminess when they touched the girl's face. She was bathing in sweat._

"_Did you go running towards here?"_

_The girl shook her head lazily. Art craned over his shoulder and gave the professor a meaningful look._

"_Take a look at her, Professor Han. Her __eye has__ changed."_

_The professor walked towards them and crouched before Merula and looked at the girl's left eye with scrutiny._

"_It was silver before, Professor Han. What do you think happened to her?"_

"_Mutation, obviously."_

"_Really?"_

"_Rare case."_

_Merula suddenly reached out __a clenched hand__ to Art and then opened her fingers to reveal a lock of blonde hair on her palm._

"_Here, I got it from the Princess," Merula declared with a weak voice. Surprised, Art hesitantly took the hair._

"_Thank you, Merula. I…I really appreciate it."_

_Suddenly, a crimson liquid started to trickle over her face. The blood came from her crown._

_Before Art and the professor could even react, Merula closed her eyes and collapsed onto the professor's arms. Art called for the girl's name several times, shaking her but she would not wake up. Merula's hair parted to the side, __revealing her back covered in bruises and bumps._

**The agent stared blankly into the void with glassy eyes. Kurapika could make out that it was more like a glare. Such memory was enough to make him seriously angry to such extent. Kurapika pulled away her gaze from the agent and looked down at the thin lock of blond hair tied in a knot. It lay silently on the table in front ****of the blonde hunter****. ****The agent had pulled that thing out of his wallet and had put it there****. ****Art had been keeping**** it with him for such a long time. The Kuruta did not dare to pick it up yet.**

"**And then…" Art continued in hard tone, "I did something stupid. I came running to the walled Kingdom. My anger gave strength to my legs. When I got there, the motherfuckers who were guarding the gates pointed their spears at me but that didn't scare me one bit. I screamed her brother's name. I was so angry I screamed so hard, I didn't care if my veins pop. When he showed up, I knock the fucking bastard to the ground."**

_Miruki's spat some blood. His lower lip split because of the blow. Two Kuruta soldiers had pinned Art to the ground while the black-haired Kuruta endeavoured to pull himself into standing position._

"_Your strength is impressive." Miruki declared, "But did you come here asking to end your life? I have warned you to stay away from here, have I not? Or have you completely lost your sanity?" _

"_Shut the HELL up!" Art retorted as he struggled from the soldiers' grasps. He could almost breathe the dust from the soil. "I came here to knock the shit out of your brain for beating your own sister today!"_

"_What NONSENSE are you talking about?"_

"_Oh! You don't know? Merula came to us bleeding like shit! She got bumps and bruises all over her back. I couldn't think of anyone else I could suspect of doing it to her but the bucko brother who likes to throw death threats at others."_

"**But I was wrong. It was not Miruki at all. It's hard to believe…but Merula's own mother, Maria, was the one who tried to kill her. Soon, everything ****cleared up****. There was something not right about that woman. There was something not right about the Hematite tribe.**

"**I should have been aware from the very beginning about what makes some nomadic, uncultured tribe so scary. It was their faith, their verdict.**

"**Hematite tribe believed in legends, omens, and all sort of craps like that.**** Merula was the one who greatly suffered because of it. Later, I learned that the Chieftain had given an order to take his own granddaughter's life. The truth was, they could have had killed her a long time ago on that very day when Merula was born; when they discovered that her eyes was not matched in colour. But a mother's love had ruled over Maria. Of course she would not let it happen ****during that time****. She wouldn't bear the anger of her husband, Kariuki, Merula's father, if she allowed such shit to happen.**

"**So the child lives. Only that she has to bear the name given to her by the chieftain – Merula, which means 'black bird'. They believed that black bird represents bad omen. The name would remind each of them of what kind of child she was every time they called her – the taboo child."**

**Art looked up at the blonde hunter in front of him. Dread was almost visible on Kurapika's countenance.**

"**Do you still remember," Art inquired to Kurapika, "your Uncle, Kariuki?"**

**Kurapika nodded hesitantly. Art looked away. ****He could not stand looking at the Kuruta with such expression**** for a long time. Nevertheless, he continued with his story.**

"**If Merula's father had not rebelled against his father, the King, and had not fathered Miruki and Merula, he could be the next heir to the throne. Apparently, he was so damn tenacious; he chose his family over power. But, eventually, your grandfather managed to separate them from each other. Besides, when Merula was born, the Hematites chieftain had gone odious about Miruki's eyes, that he ordered him to be exiled with his father from the Hematite tribe and had firmly demanded them not to be near their people ever again. The Hematites could have had left Rukuso a long time ago but Kariuki and Miruki had begged them to stay. The father and son did not want Maria and Merula to leave Rukuso. So, eventually, an agreement formed between the two tribes – King Khamisi had agreed to let the Hematite tribe to stay inside the Rukuso border, provided that they will keep their distance from the wall of the Kingdom. And that Kariuki and Miruki will keep their distance from the Hematite tribe. The Hematite's chieftain would not have had probably agreed to it and would have had forced his way out of Rukuso if only her daughter, Maria, did not threaten to kill herself if her father would not comply with the agreement.**

"**You see, the Hematite people, especially the chieftain, regarded the kids from their tribe who are born with different eye colour as bad omen. The only acceptable hair and eye colour of their tribe members is black. So then, he had Maria and your Uncle separated in order for them not to produce more offspring. Both leaders of the tribe, although barely, agreed to let the siblings meet from time to time though.**

"**On that day, when Merula came to us bleeding, later, we learned that Maria attempted to beat her own daughter to death just because the colour of Merula's left eye had changed. Probably, Maria had gone nuts ****that she managed**** to do that."**

"**I don't understand why a mother would hurt her own daughter just because of such trivial reason," The blonde hunter commented with disgust.**

"**To be honest, I thought such reason was trivial, too." Art stated, "But whatever the reason was, I will never agree to the idea of parents killing their own kids. That's just bullshit!"**

**BAM!**

**The blonde hunter flinched when the livid agent ****smacked**** the table ****with his fist****. ****Then**** she saw ****Art**** running his hands through his brown hair in exasperation. Art calmed down eventually.**

"**But somehow," the agent continued, "Something good happened. Professor Han and I confined Merula in our tent to be treated. At first, we suggested taking Merula to the hospital in the city, but of course Miruki firmly refused to let his sister leave Rukuso region. That stubborn bastard and I almost ended up going after each other's throat ****when we argued about it. In the end, Merula's brother won.**

"**Merula stayed in our camp for almost a whole damn month until she recovered completely. Miruki had frequently visited his sister in there. That, of course, made Merula very happy. Moreover, a ****little friendship had finally**** formed between me and the black-haired bastard.**

"**For more than a month that Professor Han and I stayed in Rukuso, we had barely finished our studies since Miruki ****still**** didn't want to cooperate even a little bit. But hell, he had been walking in and out of our tent like he owned it."**

* * *

"_Professor Han, will you please take a picture of us?" Art handed the camera to the professor then walked away and stood beside Miruki who was looking reluctant at the idea of getting his picture taken. On the other hand, Merula, who had recovered well from the injuries, looked rather excited while she clung onto her brother's arm._

"_Let me remind you that I'm doing this because my sister has asked me to," Miruki declared irately._

"_Yeah, yeah, whatever," Art replied apathetically, "Now, smile!"_

_After the camera's flash, abruptly, Miruki elbowed the brown-haired man in his stomach._

"_Ow!" Art winced, "What was that for?"_

"_I haven't taken revenge on you yet for punching me in the face last month."_

"_WHHHAAAAAT? You still remember THAT?"_

"_It was painful! Of course I will remember it." __Miruki made his knuckles pop__ as he clenched his hands tightly, glaring at the brown-haired man._

"_Geez! You're such a bucko!"_

"_Are you mocking me?"_

"_Wanna fight? __Bring it on, brat!__"_

"_I won't hold back!"_

_Art jumped behind Merula and playfully hide there, pretending to be scared of the boy._

"_Merula, help! Your brother's bullying me!"_

"_Take your dirty hands off my little sister!" Miruki growled __while his eyes began to burn scarlet__._

"_Oooh! What's this? I can smell jealousy! __You're jealous of me over your sister, right? Jelly ol' brother wanna kick my poor little ass because of that, eh?"_

_The Kuruta boy's cheek flushed. _

_Amused, Merula and Professor Han watched Art got chased away by the black-haired boy. __The brown-haired man still got the nerve to jut out his tongue mockingly at the angry Miruki who was trying to reach him with his sword._

"**A week later, I need to leave Rukuso province for a short while for personal reason. Someone from the company who hired Professor Han came to take my place while I was away. I promised to come back after a week. And Miruki promised me to take care of Merula. That he would do anything to protect her.**

"**Unfortunately, he couldn't fulfil that promise."**

….to be continued…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

First of all, I wanna thank **Runandra/Funchan **again for proof-reading this chapter XD. I also like to thank **angelofdeath1119** for a little help she shared.

To be honest, my brain almost bled when I was writing this, especially because of that part with sword training between Miruki and young Kurapika. And let me remind you that Miruki here is my OC, Merula's older brother, not Miruki/Milky _(Killua's chubby older brother)_ I chose Miruki to rhyme with Merula since they were siblings. Actually, I derived the name from a Kenyan name "Muriuki" whicn means "one who is reborn" (_because I think it sounds close to a Kuruta name_); and yes, Kariuki's name _(Merula and Miruki's father)_ is also Kenyan which also means "born again/ a child reincarnated". I chose those names because somehow it has to do with Merula's faith. Sorry if I sound weird =_= nevermind, enough with my rant. ^^'

I struggled to compress a lot of details in this chapter, because I'll be putting this fic under hiatus again ^^' because I'll be busy soon and I need to focus ^^. Maybe it will take 3-4 months before I manage to update this again ^^' _(but who knows, a miracle might happen...[though I doubt it ^^'] lol)._

Oh well, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter. ;D


	23. Chap 22: Revelation: The Rebirt part I

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some cursing …Set in AU.

**Note:** [Please review….Sorry for some grammar, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^']

* * *

**Chapter 22**

**Revelation: The Rebirth**

**[ part I ]**

_"She is no longer your daughter. The child who bears the golden eye of the demon shall be the death of us! I should have known from the beginning that what I fear the most will come to pass. I should not have allowed a tainted blood to exist until this moment. Kill that demon child! Shed her blood before she shed ours!"The Hematite chieftain gave his firm order to his daughter, Maria._

_ Maria's father looked gaunt, old and haggard. His booming voice however, was still powerful enough to have the entire clan's attention and to coerce them to obeying his command._

_ The Hematite Chieftain dwelt in the biggest caravan in the entire clan. He sat in what seemed to be a throne made of walnut wood and velvet satin. The entire room was draped with dark, heavy curtains; barely letting enough illumination inside the room. Incense burned idly not far from the worn feet of the Chieftain, filling the whole room with its scent. The shadow concealed more than half of his tired-looking countenance._

_ His daughter, Maria, was on her knees in front of him, looking dazed, apparently in a trance-as if she was under a spell._

_ "Do not be fooled, my daughter," the Chieftain continued as he laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Do not let fear take over you. Do the right thing. Fear your conscience that will torment you for not sparing our clan from the terrible fate this abomination will set upon us. Never feel pity towards a child of the demon. _

_"You are the one who had her born, thus you shall be the one to take her life."_

* * *

_Professor Han gently shook the test tube barely above his head, close to his nose; examining it carefully by his oriental eyes. It contained a dark liquid. The dark liquid was Merula's blood. Up to this time, he still could not believe it was a human blood, with it having such odd colour. The professor looked at it so closely that it practically made his eyes cross._

_Professor Han recalled the time he discovered that most Hematite people had dark blood; dark purplish blood actually, while others' were almost black like diluted petroleum. Professor Han suspected that the entire clan was suffering from an odd case of **Melanism**, although their skins were not affected by it while it should-instead of having dark color like black people, the Hematites got milk white skin._

_It had been more than a week since Art left Rukuso because of family matters. The professor promised his student that he would look after Merula while he was away. Apparently, Professor Han was doing a good job so far._

_One day, Merula returned in that flowery place where she and the Princess of Kuruta had met for the second time with the help of her older brother, Miruki. This time, Merula was alone; nonetheless the place seemed to be blooming more abundantly than before. There were more flowers in the field and Merula tried to enjoy the moment of solitude. She tried, but failed._

_The additional weight of sadness she was feeling at the moment was so potent it seemed there was no way she could win against it. Her mother, after all, had tried to kill her. And obviously nobody in the Hematite tribe wanted her alive anymore either. Also, his father did not seem to care at all._

_If there was one person that was keeping her from losing hope, it was her brother, Miruki. Oh, and there were more actually. Her new friends— Professor Han and Art. Realizing this was more than enough to move the girl to tears. She was not alone after all. But the thing she feared the most was thinking of how long this will last. She was scared of the fact that this, too, might fade away with time and changes._

_Merula wiped away the tears in her eyes and continued on picking flowers. Several stalks of purple irises and chrysanthemums where clutched together in her tiny hand. The colour of the two different species of flowers was so contrasting, but that was what made them look beautiful together. Perhaps Merula would give them to Professor Han when she got back to the camp as a little token of gratitude for looking after her at the moment._

_Not too far away, someone was watching Merula. The girl caught sight of her soon at the corner of her eye. The person revealed herself out of the shadows among the trees. It was Maria. Merula dropped the flowers next to her feet. Petals bounced off in the air dramatically. Soon, those flowers were just lying there in the ground, forlorn as the girl disappeared. _

* * *

_Professor Han finally caught sight of his wrist watch and realized it was almost lunch time. He then noted that the girl was nowhere near the camp. She must be in the flower field again, the professor thought. Soon, he left the camp site to look for her._

* * *

_"Princess, this is so sudden," Miruki complained. "You should have told me this plan of yours earlier so I could have had informed my little sister."_

_Miruki was leading Kurapika's horse by the reign through the woods. The princess who was riding it pouted._

_"I doubt that you would agree with it anyway," the princess replied obstinately._

_"Of course I won't."_

_"See!"_

_"Princess, you should be aware that you cannot just decide and do things out of your personal whim whenever you like it. It's not a proper conduct for a princess like you."_

_"I just wish to break a few rules once in a while," Kurapika smiled. Miruki looked up at the princess and frowned._

_"And what good will it do?"_

_"Simple pleasure," the princess' smile grew wider._

_Miruki just shook his head in disapproval._

_"I believe you are getting spoiled," Miruki declared sadly. "By me."_

_"And I am grateful to you for that, my dear knight."_

_Miruki heaved a long, disappointed sigh. He heard the princess a chuckled lightly._

_Abruptly, the black-haired Kuruta stopped in his pace and pulled the horse into a halt._

_"What's the matter, Miruki?" The Princess inquired, extending her head to where Miruki was looking at, but failed to see what was in there._

_The boy saw two familiar figures walking from afar. Soon, he recognized who they were._

_"Princess, can I leave you here for a moment? I promise I won't take long."_

_"How uncouth of you to leave a defenceless Princess in the middle of the forest all alone!" Kurapika scowled, folding her arms together across her chest and made a snob face._

_Miruki made a face and gave the princess the are-you-kidding-me kind of look, "Defenceless? I believe you always bring your sword with you, Your Highness. And the forest isn't as dangerous as you may exaggeratedly think it is."_

_ Kurapika drew a guilty smile, "Just kidding."_

_ Miruki prowled after his mother and Merula who were walking onto the elevated woody ground deeper into the forest, hand in hand._

_ The girl would occasionally look up at her mother as they walked side by side, passing along trees and shrubs, taking the steep path through the forest, which the girl had no idea where exactly it was leading to. Her mother had not cast a glance at her for a while. _

_ There was a voice telling Merula to run away. But after seeing her mother giving her such a warm smile almost an hour ago back there in the flower field, that smile seemed to have hypnotized her. She saw her old mother came back. The loving and caring one who used to extend her hands towards her during the time she could still come back home; the one whose arms would envelope her in a warm and loving embrace; the one who had disappeared for a long time, and had finally returned again._

_But the moment suddenly made a wicked turn. Merula felt that the grip of her mother's hand around her wrist was getting tighter, and it was beginning to frighten her gradually and blurring the lovely image of her mother she had just recently recalled. Nonetheless, she did not dare break away. She was too frightened to ask question even a simple ''where are we going?' She was a fool to fall for such a trap. It was way too late to regret it. All she could do was pray that someone would come and rescue her soon._

_ Miruki was practically 50 meters away behind the two. He did not dare go any closer to them. He preferred to learn what this will lead on. Although Miruki knew that his mother had hurt his sister once to the point of almost getting the girl killed, he foolishly hoped that that had changed by judging from the way Maria held Merula's hand. Merula, on the other hand, did not seem to be reluctant on being led, or so was her brother's observation. Therefore, Miruki had no reason to take actions, at least not just yet until something happens._

_ Soon, Maria and Merula reached a precipice. Beside it was a huge, raging waterfall; 50 feet below was a wide basin of water. Anyone would doubt someone could survive the fall in there; anyone would think that even the water that would catch the body from the freefall would not guarantee any possibility of survival. One's neck might still break, and the impact might still be great enough to injure a couple of limbs or damage the ribs and internal organs._

_ At that moment, Merula, was already enveloped with fear as she stood near the edge of the precipice beside her mother. She stared at the dizzying height of their altitude; her mother's hand was still clutching her wrist tightly. It already dawned on her what was going on. It was too late for her to escape though, or rather she did not have the guts to do so. _

_ Both of them were trembling as they stood near the edge of the precipice. The strong wind caused by the strong current of the waterfall was blowing their black hair wildly; making their strands whip around their face and obscuring the beautiful sight of mountains and woods on the vast horizon and distracting them from the terrifying depth beneath the cliff. _

_ Finally, Merula managed to gather enough courage to look up at her mother's face again. Maria was crying. Tears flowed heavily down her cheeks; she was gritting her teeth. She knew she was about to do something heinous._

_ "Mo…mother?" Merula called hesitantly._

_ Miruki was crouching almost just 10 feet away from his mother and sister, just watching behind a thick bush, yet ready to lunge forward any time just in case anything unpleasant happened. The boy saw his mother bending down, levelling her head with Merula's, holding the girl's shoulder with her trembling hands. Her head was bent down and her black locks half-concealed her crying face. Maria's trembling shoulders and hands indicated that she had not stopped sobbing yet._

_ Maria lifted her face and looked at Merula straight in the eyes and caressed the girl's face. Then she took her in an embrace._

_ "I'm sorry, Merula. You know Mother loves you so much, right?" Maria whispered to Merula's ear between sobs. "You believe me, right?"_

_ Merula nodded._

_ "Do you still love Mother?"_

_ The girl answered by hugging her mother back, putting her slender arms around Maria's back and buried her face onto her neck._

_ "Then would you forgive Mother?"_

_ Maria felt the girl nod her head, brushing her forehead against the side of her neck._

_ There was a short moment of silence._

_ Finally, Maria pulled away._

_ "Then, Merula," Maria announced, "Please forgive me."_

_ Merula looked up and saw her mother raised her hand with a dagger. There was no time and no place for the girl to run._

_ One swish and suddenly there was a long bleeding wound on Merula's left arm._

_ "Merula, don't move so much so I could make it quick." Maria's voice suddenly sounded cold and mad!_

_ The girl saw that her mother's eyes were no longer the same as before. The insanity had returned in her. That smiling face with a cold, mad glare indicated that she was no longer her loving mother from just a moment ago. Merula was suddenly enveloped in a chill, making her numb; unable to move. All hopes had left her! She knew she was going to die soon._

_ Maria swished the dagger for the second time, aiming at Merula's heart. The blade went deep into the girl's chest this time._

_Miruki had never felt so much remorse in his entire life for being so stupid to let such thing happened in front of his eyes! As he jump out of the bush and dashed towards his sister, he witnessed the unimaginable agony on her face as her body inclined backward at the edge of the cliff, while rich black blood gushed out of her chest with the blade still buried deep in it.  
_

_Merula's body drop sharply into the deep stream at the base of the water fall. Miruki barely heard the flash deep down. _

The boy stared, shocked, at the spot where her sister's body went, and gradually his eyes and nose watered.

Miruki started screaming his sister's name and his remorse. He dared not to look at his mother again who still wear the face of madness before he sprint down the mountain leaving his mother alone. Maria's dress splashed with her daughter's blood and her feet standing at the muddy ground that Merula's blood had soaked. Soo, she too started to walk and follow his son's trail.

* * *

_ Professor Han heard the splash of water while he was walking in the woods looking for Hematite girl. That would of course catch his attention and would draw him to check out what it was. Besides, that splash did not sound like something a normal kind of fish in the stream could do. That splash could be made by a really big fish, if that was ever really a fish. _

* * *

_ Kurapika was geting uptight. She wanted to follow her cousin, but not really because she was already bored, but because of mere curiosity. Miruki did not mention what he was up to before he left. Was it something that he needed to hide from her?_

_But then suddenly, the princess heard Miruki's scream. She kicked her horse's flanks. The horse galloped onwards, and to the direction where her cousin's scream came from._

* * *

_ Miruki waded wobbly out of the stream while carrying her sister in his arms to the shore. Water was heavily dripping off their clothes and hair, creating wet trails behind them as they walked off the water and onto the dry land. A wake of dark blood was left in the water from where Miruki hauled his sister's body._

_ Miruki put down Merula beside a tree carefully. She was not breathing and her eyes were half-leaded. Blood was still streaming our from the wound in her chest and her mouth. He was going to take off the blade in his sister's chest when suddenly, his mother's arm snaked around his neck._

_"LET THE TABOO CHILD **DIE!**" Maria screamed._

_Maria and her son wrestled. The boy managed to easily freed himself from his mother's grip, thanks to the Kuruta blood in him that gives him extraordinary strength._

_"Stay back or I will forget that you are my mother!" Miruki threatened. His burning scarlet eyes gave Maria a deathly glare enough to make her froze for a moment. But the time the boy turned his back, Maria jumped onto him and wrapped her arms around his face depraving him of sight and air._

_The two wrestled again and rolled on the ground. The other one was trying to free himself while the other endeavored to keep her grip on him, not letting him go._

_"**LET IT DIE! LET IT DIE!**" Maria screamed and laughed in madness._

_Although Miruki was reluctant in doing so, and he didn't want to hurt his mother, he gave his mother a hard jab in the stomach, enough to weakened her and stoop on the ground. _

_Miruki finally managed to walk freely towards his sister's body._

_"Merula, please don't die on me!" The boy whimpered as he put his fingered around the hilt of the blade. _

_A shadow suddenly loomed over him. Maria was carrying a rock, ready to drop it on Miruki's head. But the boy was too fast that he managed to push her down. She drop the rock and sprawled at the ground._

_"SHK! SHK! SHK! . . .SHK! SHK! SHK!"_

_ Tiny drops of blood splattered over Maria's cheeks as she looked up. Her son stood in front of her with his body literally drilled by dark-coloured and odd-looking rods; they had penetrated into some of his internal organs, stomach, and into his thighs. Dark-coloured blood gushed from his mouth as he trembled and choked. _

_ Finally, those dark rods began to wriggle away like tentacles from Miruki's body; they left bleeding holes in the boy's flesh. Miruki collapsed on his knees, bleeding and vomiting blood. When Maria traced the tentacles with her eyes to know where they had originated from, she saw that they were part of Merula's body; attached on her back and shoulders. Merula had sat up straight and glared at Maria silently; her left eye seemed to be glowed white in a eerie way. She just keep on glaring, not moving a single limb; she was just sitting there like a doll of death. _

_After a couple of minutes, those tentacles danced around her gracefully like that of a black jellyfish in water. Gradually, they grew shorter until they vanished completely into her body._

_ The terrified expression on Maria's face was beyond description. She could only tremble before her dying son and her daughter who had proven herself to be no longer human._

_ A girl shrieked! When Maria turned her head, she saw the Kuruta princess standing several meters away from them, with horrified eyes that were burning vividly like embers under the murky shades of the trees – Princess Kurapika saw everything. It only took seconds before Professor Han showed up too, and learned what had transpired._

**"My absence took 2 weeks instead of just a week. It was inevitable. There had been a lot of damn hassle in my trip back to Rukuso Region. Professor Han told me everything that happened that very day I arrived there.**

** "Surprisingly though, when the Kuruta Kingdom heard about my return, they gave me an invitation to see Miruki. He was in his death bed.**

** "That was the first time I met Merula's and Miruki's father, Kariuki. I'd say that the boy indeed inherited his eyes from his father. I mean those purple orbs of his; to be honest, it was hard for me to believe that such eye colour did exist.**

** "Kariuki told me that is was his son's definite request to take me there. Because the kid had something to tell me."**

_Art sat on a cosy foot stool next to Miruki's bed. The black haired Kuruta lay on his bed, looking gaunt and tired. His body could not manifest the glory of youth he once had anymore. He looked like a dying little old man even though he was just 14. Art realized eventually, after examining the boy's wounds, he could no longer be saved; he had lost too much blood._

_ The brown-haired man saw Miruki's trembling hand raised; a finger curled weakly at him. Art stood up, sat on the edge of the boy's bed and bent his head down next to the boy's head._

**"He asked me," Art hawked, "to transplant one of his eyes into his sister to replace her left eye that caused Merula the great misfortune; which was obviously the root of all the shit in her life. The kid said that that was the least thing he could do for her before he departs. The kid had been feeling guilty for being not good enough of a brother for Merula, or so he thought so. He believed if the golden eye would be taken off Merula, her fate would change. He probably also believed that if he gave his eye to her, there would be hope that she'll get accepted by his tribe, too.**

** "That time though, Merula was locked in a cage by the Hematite tribe. Her crazy grandfather ordered it and her Mother just fucking let it be. Shit! The least thing I could do was to go there and gave all those bitches a good beating and rescue Merula and take her away from them. **

** "But Kariuki already made a move. He went there to the Hematite tribe and talked to his wife, Maria; he asked her to give her the girl. Maria never refused her husband."**

** "I granted Miruki's request. The operation on Merula's left eye was successful. Thanks to Professor Han's help."**

** Suddenly, Art stopped talking. There was a moment of silence. Kurapika waited patiently for the agent to continue.**

** "Then the boy died. Or so I thought he really did.**

** "I heard the Kuruta kingdom would cremate Miruki's body. That was their tradition anyway. But that tradition turned out to be a big mistake for Miruki's part."**

_The Kuruta tribe, although quite reluctant knowing that the girl killed her own brother, had allowed Merula, to attend the cremation rite to show respect to Miruki's last will; it was also a constant request Kariuki had asked of his father several times during Miruki's wake. Oddly enough, Maria was there, too. They were the only Hematite people who were there. Both of them felt the silent discrimination through glares, murmurs and avoidance from the Kuruta residents, as if the two of them were carrying a contagious disease – the fact that proved that even though Merula had his brother's eye in her, she was still an outcast. Even Kariuki would not go near them. Maria and Merula themselves ignored each other's presence, though. It was, after all, unlikely for the daughter to stay close with her mother who had tried to kill her for a couple of times._

_ Art and Professor Han were there as well, standing among the crowds that surrounded Miruki's body whose bed was decorated with Chrysanthemums. They noted that the boy was wearing a special set of tribal Kuruta clothes that, the agent agreed thoughtfully, fitted the occasion very well. The black-haired Kuruta was lying on his back with his hands on his chest, like he was sleeping. But the dried skin still showed the trace of the boy's suffering. Art wondered if the whole Kingdom was aware on how Miruki had died. Perhaps not. But he was damn well sure that their princess was. The agent guessed that the little princess had the generous heart to spare Merula from anymore hatred by not telling the others of what actually happened. Or perhaps, Miruki had begged her to keep it a secret before he died._

_ Merula, with her head and left eye covered in bandage, stood silently along the circle of crowd surrounding her brother's body. The native Kuruta residents who were near her had kept their distance no less than one meter radius away from her. She caught sight of the Princess who stood side by side with her parents; she was definitely crying her eyes out. Her orbs burned brightly red; her cheeks were wet with tears. Actually almost everyone, except for Merula, her mother, Art, and the professor, had their eyes burning red during the cremation rites. Soon, Merula's and Kurapika's eyes met. Merula received a brief, accusing glare from the princess, and then Kurapika turned her head away and walked in between her parents to hide away from her sight. Merula knew from that moment that she was no longer a friend of hers._

_ A Kuruta soldier lit the hays under the boy's body and fire spread quickly and vigorously all over the death bed, consuming the whole corpse._

_ Everyone watched silently as the fire towered, creating an illusion as if it reached the heaven. Art could smell the burning flesh coming from the fire. A single tear escaped his eye. He wiped it immediately and sniffed. He noted that it seemed that every Kuruta around him had started to murmur words he could not understand. It was probably a prayer._

_ Suddenly, the murmuring stopped and replaced by some gasps and horrified exclamations. Art saw some of them pointing fingers at the fire in awe. When he looked carefully, he could not help but cussed. Miruki's body began to move._

**"Miruki? Ressurrected?" Kurapika exclaimed incredulously as she peered into the agent's face whose teary eyes were cast down. "You're joking right? That just sounds unreasonable – dead, coming back to life!?"**

** Art looked up at the Kuruta and gave her a stern glare, "Yes, you can say he was resurrected. But he was not exactly alive. Not exactly what you think…But…Look Kurapika, I swear all that I've told you and telling you right now isn't a joke. It's up to you to believe me. I'm just conforming to our deal. You want the truth? All the information I know about Merula and her tribe and their connection to you and your tribe, I'm spilling it all out. Now, if you're not going to believe all of these, it's up to you. Or maybe there's no use continuing—" **

** "I'm sorry." Kurapika cut in. "It's just that…It's hard to believe—" **

** "I can't blame you on that. But let me finish. There are explanations for all of these." The agent stopped for a short moment to take a deep breath, as if he was gathering all the courage to confess a grave sin. "I just hope, you are ready to know what I am going to tell you next."**

** Art saw the blonde hunter looking at him sternly with glassy eyes. The agent thought that perhaps she _was_ already prepared, only that it was unsure if she would be able to handle all of it.**

** "Kurapika, let me ask you again," the agent inquired, "how many Kuruta members in total do you remember before the massacre occurred six years ago?"**

** "There were 37 of us, including me," the Kuruta answered almost in a cheerless whisper.**

** "I reckon there were almost a hundred of you when I entered inside your Kingdom walls."**

** Art noted Kurapika's eyes went wide and flickered scarlet like a pair of fireflies under the faint illumination of incandescent lamp.**

** "Miruki," Art continued, "was the reason why your population was reduced into one-third of it. He killed a damn lot of you."**

_… to be continued._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_I tried my best to update my fic this month (August) as promised. I'm still really busy right now. I only find time to write when some things come up where I have no choice but to do nothing and wait, I would just spend that free time writing, although always in a hurry. I tried to compressed all the important details from the outline for this chapter…it seems though that the whole outline would cover two chapters….anyway, my agent and a fellow artist of mine finally discovered that I'm writing fanfic…well, for my agent it was okay for him, in fact I think he got addicted to HxH again, too, actually him and my fellow female artist did! Never thought it would be this so much fun! LOL! It feels rather awesome and weird seeing someone in person reacts while he/she reads your fanfic…My fellow female artist who is reading this now, too told me that if Art is real and if ever she sees him, she's going to cut him into pieces! LOL! _

_Apparently, Art (if ever he's real) is someone whom guys would like to be friends with but he would be girls' mortal enemy no. 1. Hahahaha! ^^' Aww…Artemio! To be honest…I would cut Art into pieces, too if he ever he does to me what he does to Kurapika…although someone (girl) told me this: "Art is someone whom you don't know if you'll like him or not! He's such a jerk sometimes." Actually, another girl told me Art is obnoxious and well, I can feel that she doesn't like him. LOL! Hahahaha! But honestly, I'm happy that some people react that way. That was really my intention. A friend of mine told me that if I could make people react like this (the way I wanted), that means my writing is effective. And actually, after people in our office discovered I write something like this, they began convincing me to take writing seriously. But I don't have the guts yet. I'd like to give it a try but to be honest, I have no confidence yet (obviously because I still tend to have grammar and typo errors) and time would be my greatest enemy…I don't know if I can handle writing and drawing comics at the same time u_u. Yes, I do have original stories under my sleeves; those I haven't shown anyone yet, but I'm still keeping the manuscripts just in case I got the time to finally work on them…Well, I think this fic itself is somewhat/almost an original story. Well, like I said before, I could have had turn this into original story if it isn't because of a very important matter that is likely to cause a hassle/issue. But ah well, it's here already and I'll just keep writing until I finish this fic._

_Actually, when I heard the news about the Hunter X Hunter movie and learned about what the story is going to be, I suddenly feel obliged to finish this fic before the airing of the movie, or more specifically, a month before the premier of the movie. I have my reasons and probably you already have an idea of my reasons. So yeah, despite my busy schedule, I will try my best to spare time to update it. Again, please excuse some grammar and typo errors you saw here and in the upcoming chapters…since my friends became rather busy with school, I might not be able to disturb them to proof-read this._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I would really appreciate some reviews. =)_

**_Additional Note:_**

_Okay, this one is edited now. There are some minor changes. Just received the proof-read version from **Runandra**. Thanks a lot Runandra :D_


	24. Chap 23: Revelation: Rebirth part II

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some cursing, violence and gore …Set in AU.

**Note:** [Please review….Sorry for some grammar, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^']

* * *

**Chapter 23**

**Revelation: The Rebirth**

**[ part II ]**

_Those deadly sharp tentacles were not meant to kill her brother, Miruki. They were supposed to aim at her mother, Maria, who had threatened her life; who had tried to kill her and hurt here for several times. But could she blame herself if she alone had no control over the monster inside her body?_

* * *

_Red-eyed people were ran frantically for their dear lives in different directions while screaming in terror. The ground was soaked with warm, crimson blood from the veins of the brave Kuruta warriors who gained some mortal wounds by trying to defeat the beast going berserk before them, but in failed missrerably. Victory was apparently beyond their reach. They had no match against such enemy. Soon, some dismembered limbs, bits of bloody human flesh and guts lay on the grass. A dozen square meters where the cremation rite took place had turned into some kind of bloody slaughter ground. Pieces of burning embers that used to be part of the of firewood that should have had burnt the corpse of a young Kuruta boy, now scattered several feet away on the ground around the burning bed, producing thick threads of smokes that almost fogged the entire vicinity, making anyone and anything hardly visible._

_The burning bed in the centre of the said vicinity was empty. The corpse of the Kuruta boy was no longer there. _

_Mounds of corpses of Kuruta people increased in number __as the vicious beast mangled more of them. Soon the_ screams and cries gradually died down. Broken spears, lances and arrows jutted out on the ground surrounding the corpses. It was as if a war had occurred and had taken so much precious lives for nothing.

_The eight-year old Merula just stood among those corpses as some other living and barely alive Kuruta people crawled away or ran past her to spare their own precious lives from the danger with the remaining strength their body still had._

_The monster had wiped out almost all of the Kuruta warriors. Apparently, no one could kill it, no one from the Kuruta tribe could._

_That monster was not just some random beast that had stumbled inside the walls of the kingdom though. That creature was a mutation of one of the Kuruta members-Miruki had transformed into such abomination._

* * *

"**Are you saying that our own kind killed our tribe members!?" Kurapika asked in a stiff voice while glaring at the agent as if the glare would intimidate Art to admit that his latter statement was a big bad joke, however, the said glare failed to give such effect.**

"**What do you think?" Art replied in a low, weary voice. "Miruki was part of your tribe, wasn't he? You can't blame him though. He was already dead; he was no longer the one controlling his body. It was a…completely different creature. I'd say it was somehow your own kingdom's fault why he transformed into such a bloody nightmare, but can't blame you either since you have no idea that burning the body will trigger the mutation."**

"**What do you mean by mutation?" Kurapika frowned.**

* * *

_Merula stood there crying, eyes shut but tears still kept on coming from them. She refused to look at the horror in front of her. She could have had ran away but she was too scared that she could not even move from her position._

_A large shadow loomed over her. Merula slowly opened her eyes, and revealed the mismatched colours of her orbs as by that moment, both of her eyes could see because the bandage covering her left eye had gone lose. Her left scarlet orb was as vivid as the eyes of the dead Kuruta members surrounding her. Her right one remained as black as coal though. She was constantly hiccoughing and sobbing as she slowly looked up at the face of a giant deformed monster who used to be her beloved brother, hovering above her. The creature was a hefty, giant piece of strange-looking, animated piece of lump and about 4 meters high. It only had one eye on the right socket and it was glowing scarlet as well. The left socket was empty, yet oddly enough, both were shedding tears. Its overgrown lower jaw was hanging like a loose hinge. The monster's head was half bald with disperse strands of long, black wavy hair dangling at both side of its face. Its limbs seemed to have overgrown too much that it was almost like of an ape's forelimbs that touched the ground, there were no fingers of either an ape or of human at their ends though. There were only unusual-looking talons which made the monster looked even more terrifying._

_The giant creature took a step forward and its huge deformed foot crashed over the bloody carcass of a dead Kuruta warrior and sent pieces of flesh and blood spurting over the ground; adding more crimson stains onto the creature's feet._

_As soon as the monster caught sight of the young Merula, with one single scarlet eye, it fixed its sight to the girl, it came closer until the gap between them became really close to the point that Merula was practically standing within its shadow. The monster gave out a long, sad bellow, it almost sounded like a cry of a human child, mixed between the vicious roar of an animal._

_"No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! NO!" The girl protested between sobs while she shook her head repeatedly; her long locks swayed side to side around her small frame. The creature took another step towards Merula while the girl backed away from it in fear. There was another bellow from the creature. This time it sounded angry._

_"Noooo! Brother, nooooooooo!" Merula cried as she cupped her head with her trembling hands and shaking her head in utter disapproval, as if the creature was speaking to her and she could understand it; demanding her of something but she firmly refused to obey._

_Soon, the creature lifted one of its limbs and aimed at the trembling girl. The girl's mismatched eyes grew wide with terror sensing that the creature was about to attack her , knowing that this could be the end of her. She was expecting to suffer a painful death. Suddenly, something began to move under the skin beneath her scarlet eye._

_"No, no, no….NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

_Then, there was a sound of flesh being ripped apart. A sharp, giant talon thing suddenly ripped through the monster's torso; crashing its innards and sending its blood gushing out of its huge body._

_Art saw everything. He was there. As the smoke faded away before his eyes, it revealed a little girl with black hair drenched in blood of the monster staked into the huge talon that grew out of her arm. There was no doubt, that the girl was Merula. _

_Merula cleaved the monster practically into two equal halves in one upward swing of her talon. The cutting seemed so severe it made the monster's head detached from its torso. The head fell to the blood-stained ground and rolled next to the girl's feet and then, the monster's headless body collapsed to the ground – a gigantic piece of bloody, tattered flesh._

_Merula looked down at the head lying between her feet with a pair of mismatched eyes devoid of sanity. The head looked more or less his brother's face but the trace of hatred and suffering was still there. Merula's blank countenance suddenly broke down as an abrupt agony suddenly snapped her back into reality. She stepped back, away from the monster's head and wobbled as the muscle of her mutated arm shifted and the talon began to shrink and sink back into her flesh. It was extremely painful for the girl that she fell to her knees and doubled over while trembling and screaming on top of her lungs. Her scream echoed practically throughout the entire woods, disturbing the wild. When her body had returned to its normal state, Merula had already lost her consciousness. _

_Art realized he was not the only one who had seen it all. Some other Kuruta members, who had survived the beastly attack, who had been hiding behind the bushes and trees, were watching, too. _

_On that day, Merula also earned the hate and disgust from the Kuruta people, who had lost their love ones to the monster who once was their member, Miruki. After seeing everything, there was no doubt that Merula was also a monster. And since then, Merula was deemed by both tribes – Hematite tribe and Kuruta tribe — as a grave threat to them._

* * *

"**Oh God, Kurapika, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I couldn't save any of them." Art suddenly bawled out. "I was such a useless bastard. I was there…yet…I couldn't…I couldn't do a fucking thing about it! I couldn't save any of them, I couldn't save Miruki, and I couldn't save Merula. I failed to fulfil my promise….. I'm so…..sorry." The blonde hunter could see the tears streamed down the agent's face even though Art covered his eyes with his hands, elbows leaning on the table. He was trembling, and sobbing heavily like a helpless, child. That was the night Kurapika saw the fragile side of this man who usually tease or annoy her. It was almost hard to believe this was the agent she had met before.**

* * *

_In the end, Merula was the one who managed to kill his brother-or rather the monster whom he had turned into, literally. _

_Apparently, only a monster could kill a monster. _

_This revelation was quite terrifying. Nonetheless, Art had no choice but to acknowledge it. Art convinced himself that Merula and the entity that reside in her body were quite of different individual; that would be more bearable. That disgusting alien thing was probably a parasite infesting the poor girl's body. Art thought all the possible explanations he could come up with so prevent himself from being frightened of the girl resulting to a cowardly act of neglecting her. Either way, he still could not bring himself to abandon her._

_The Hematite Chieftain learned about what happened in the cremation rites. Including the crime his own daughter had committed by secretly meeting Kariuki and granting his request by setting Merula free a week ago before the day of cremation. _

_One day, the Hematite chieftain asked an audience from the King of Kuruta and with his request immediately granted, he explained to the Kuruta King why Merula was needed to be exterminated. The Chieftain of Hematite explained that the mixture of foreign blood to their race would always result into abomination. The proof was the siblings – Merula and Miruki. This was the reason why he was strongly against his daughter and the King's son's relationship. _

_At the end, the King of Kuruta reluctantly agreed with the other tribe's leader's demand to sentence Merula to death. Kariuki, could not object against it, perhaps because it seemed that Merula killed her own brother, and the lost of his son was quite unacceptable for him, too; not to mention it was also the King's order, and everyone in the Kingdom seemed to have agreed with the King's decision – they believe it was for the safety of their own kingdom, too. Or perhaps, everyone in the Kuruta kingdom actually wanted Merula dead themselves, fearing that the bloody incident might happen again, because after all, Merula and Miruki were siblings. If Miruki turned into a monster and killed a lot of them, it would be most likely that Merula would do the same in the future if they let her live further._

_The chieftain also pointed out that what happened to their comrades was Kariuki's fault because he was, in the first place, the one who objected and hindered the death sentence of his daughter which should have had happened on the very day she was born. He added that the King's son had brought this misfortune to both tribes. And thus, without objection, King Khamisi agreed to let Merula be sentenced to death by burning her alive, and the execution should take place inside the very walls of the Kuruta Kingdom, just like what the Hematite tribe wanted._

* * *

_Merula was crying her eyes out ever since she woke up in Art's and Professor Han's tent. It eventually dawned on Merula what she did a few days ago in the cremation rite inside the Walled Kingdom. She killed her own brother, but she swore to heavens she did not want it. Remorse was not enough! She never hated herself like this more than anyone did._

_Art could not think of anything to say to cheer the girl up. He was just sitting there, hands clasped together, heavily wistful and the least thing he could do was to silently sympathize with the girl. He wanted to hug her or pat her shoulders, but he lack the courage to make any slightest physical contact with her ever since he witnessed the monster materialized on Merula's body, and he hated his self for being the coward he had become. Merula was crying for so long that her left eye, which was fresh from the transplant operation, began to cry literally of blood._

_Art did not dare ask Merula to stop crying. Actually, he blamed himself, too. He felt like a total crap for being unable to do anything to stop any of the shit that happened; by scientifically figuring it out in the first place that such horrible event would happen. He believed he could have had succeed in doing it if he was not slacking off in the first place._

_Everyone's lamentation was interrupted when a group of Hematite people armed with bolo and spears breached into the tent. The last thing Art saw before he got knock out by the head by something really hard was that one of the Hematites forcefully covered Merula's mouth with a piece of cloth and then the girl passed out. Before Art's vision was totally engulfed by darkness, he saw the poor, unconscious girl carried by one of the Hematites on his shoulder like a sack of rice. _

_When Art came to, Merula was gone, so as the golden eye stored in cylinder with alcohol – the eyeball that use to occupy Merula's left socket._

* * *

**Art bit his lower lips. He had not refrained from crying yet. His cheeks were wet and more tears were coming out from time to time. His eyes were red and sore; his nose running. After a short moment of silence, he managed to pull himself together. He sniffed, "It was my fault. I couldn't save Merula," he continued in hoarse voice. "They took her and…"**

* * *

"_You killed my son! My only son!" Maria cried out in fury as she tried to get her hands onto Merula whose arms were tied together with a rope. Several Hematites dragged her away from the girl before Maria could killed her daughter herself before they could even reach the execution venue. Before, Maria was given such order but failed. This time, the two kingdoms will do the execution. _

_No one noticed the tiny scratch Maria's nail had made on the girl's cheek. It bled for a moment, and then, because Merula's body had changed rather in an extensive degree, although it was not too obvious on her exterior, the wound disappeared immediately as if it had not been there before._

_There was a parade of Hematite people dressed especially for a certain occasion. Merula was there, being escorted to the Walled Kingdom. Art, who was hiding along the way behind the tall bushes and was waiting for the parade to pass along, was about to do something crazy by trying to snatch Merula away. However, Professor Han suddenly emerged and stopped him._

* * *

"**I wanted to save her. I really do." The agent justified between sobs, in a way as if he was pleading to Kurapika to believe him; as if the explanation would earn himself forgiveness from the blonde hunter for the grave sin he had committed.**

* * *

_Merula, who was tied against a wooden post and surrounded by the Kuruta members and Hematite people, cried as much as she could, plead for help, begged for forgiveness, but none heed her voice until the fire consumed her completely and that she could cry no more. The image was very clear in Art's memory. He saw it all happened. He was there and could not do anything._

* * *

"**It was another huge ****fucking **mistake I couldn't prevent from happening, Kurapika. I should have had stopped it." The agent continued. "If I only knew earlier I was already being betrayed by the person I trusted so much."

* * *

"_I bet within a week or two, the girl would rise again from her grave, I'm sure of it. You can literally nail me if I'm wrong." Professor Han swore to his cellphone. "I have several more millilitres of the girl's raw blood though. If we'll catch the version of her in a complete stage, it will be a good turning point for the project, will it?" The professor drew a wide grim smile on his face._

_Merula's body was like a human barbeque when her body was removed from the stake. Fortunately, all her limbs were still complete and were in the right places. They buried her in an isolated place outside the territory of Kuruta Kingdom – in a small hill covered with dried weeds, adjacent in woodland. After wards, all Hematite members left Rukuso. Where they were heading was unknown. Art would visit Merula's grave everyday while he and Professar Han still had not decided to leave the Rukuso Mountains yet. Sometimes Art would bring purple irises, Merula's favourite flowers, to her grave._

_However, on the ninth night after Merula's death, Art found the grave unearthed, as if something had dug its way out of it. But by the looks of it, there was one only conclusion formed in his mind. Merula had resurrected and dug her way out from the grave._

_Art, completely awed by what he discovered, ran back to the camp and told everything to Professor Han —a deed which he was going to regret deeply soon. _

_After a couple of days, a great number of armed men arrived in Rukuso Woods to hunt down Merula._

"_What's the meaning of this!? What are they doing here!?" Art demanded angrily at the professor whom he saw shaking hands with a man who seemed to be the leader of the army._

"_I'm sorry Art. Just doing my job. I hope you understand. Nothing personal," Professor Han answered in grim, hollow voice of a betrayer._

* * *

"**The bastard was working under the fucking organization! He's a GAWDDAMN TRAITOR!" Art growled under his breath. His face turned rather flustered for trying to control the rage inside him as he recalled the loathsome memory. "They forced me to cooperate and to make sure I wouldn't resist, they kidnapped my wife and took her as a hostage. They would kill her if I don't do as they say."**

* * *

_For some reason, the Kuruta Kingdom did not seem to care about the presence of a new group of outsiders that had infiltrated the Rukuso Region. On the other hand, the Organization's men only have one reason why they were there – to capture the freshly-resurrected Merula. But they did not have it easy._

_They found Merula nestling in the woods like a wild cave person, not far from her grave. Her skin was dark – the evidence that she really had gone under that fiery punishment, but it seemed that her wounds had already healed in a good degree in a short period of time. Her hair seemed to have had grown back some inches already, too – her body's resilience had increased in an implausible degree._

_Yes, she was alive, but her persona was no longer the same as it was before she died. She was no longer the gentle, helpless and innocent girl Art knew before. Art was sure of it the moment he met her gaze again in the darkness of the woods when they were pursuing her. Her eyes had changed – the gentleness was no longer there; only coldness, like she no longer have a soul. Merula was giving off that foreboding aura – like that of a dangerous, wild animal that would not hesitate to hurt or kill someone, which was proven when she slaughtered five of the Organization's men within an hour since they set foot in the woods._

_The girl killed those men, without the slightest hesitation and mercy, using those odd self-defence mechanisms that she could materialized in her own body parts by her own volition – usually huge talons that evolved in her limbs or sharp whip-like tentacles that were strong enough to tear the flesh of any creature. She became unbelievably fast and agile, too, with an instinct of a predator. Everyone, including Art himself, concluded that the girl was no longer human._

_It had been a good whole day of wild-goose-chase, a hunt-or-be-hunted, hide-and-seek game. The only thing that managed to knock off Merula was a good number of shots of a strong tranquilizer into her small body that the Organization's men managed in an unexpected chance. _

_After they captured Merula, they left Rukuso Region, together with Art as a hostage and Professor Han as a no-longer-secret accomplice._

* * *

"**I learned that the treacherous bastard was secretly sending samples of Merula's blood to a secret underground organization called Venom – an organization conducting illegal experiment on animals and even on people to develop living puppets they could use for illicit operation and they could sell to black market. Professor Han had made the first discoveries upon examining Merula's blood – it had a great potential use in developing a type of biological weapon. The bastard didn't tell me the slightest about it earlier. He probably discovered it already long before I returned to Rukuso. He fucking hid all of it from me. I bet he could have had done something to cure Miruki and prevent him from turning into a goddamn monster, but I bet since he had a rotten motive from the beginning, of course he would do the bloody opposite. He fucking let it all be! The whole time, the siblings were nothing but lab rats to him!**

"**Felt like a total crap knowing I was stupid enough to let him exploit me for such a heinous purpose."**

**The agent took a deep breath and looked at Kurapika inquiringly. He cleared his throat and continued. **

"**Do you know why Miruki resurrected and mutated into a monster? Do you know why Merula came back to life after being burned to death? Their cases were different but triggered through the same mean. **

"**The fire did it. It was close to the theory of The Vision of Zozimos. You had probably read something about this guy. He was an alchemist and ironically, Venom organization had based their research in his philosophy. In Zozimos' second dream, through burning, transmutation occurs. Apparently, that was what had happened to Miruki and Merula. It was probably because their blood was a combination of Hematite and of Kuruta. Based on Professor Han's research, the reason why Hematite's blood was so dark was because it was full of iron. It was a mystery on how these people can live in a normal lifespan in such condition while in fact too much iron in blood could cause death to a normal human being. But it seemed Hematite weren't exactly normal. The scarlet eyes were suspected by the Organization as the obsolete prototype of the Philosopher's stone, affecting the iron in their blood could have triggered the mutation in Merula. Iron, after all, is a type of metal.**

"**Actually, mutation had already begun when Merula's silver left eye turned into gold. For the Hematite tribe, a golden eye is sign of a foreboding. Although they probably didn't believe in science and that they viewed it differently, the meaning of it was still the same – abomination – children with mixed blood and golden eyes were the epitome of it. **

"**According to legends, Philosopher's stone can turn raw metals into gold. Although that sounds really ironic to me, one thing was sure; the fire had completed the mutation in Merula and Miruki's body. After all, miracles and mysteries always occur inside human body. It was a whole alchemical system inside it – chemical reactions and formations, etcetera, etcetera… Moreover, fire is a tool for a chemical transformation, like cooking – You add ingredients, put them on the fire and a new substance will form."**

* * *

_It had been a year since Hematite tribe left Rukuso Mountains. Their exodus led them to a city called Ryuusengai, where they were compelled to camp for a night. _

_They were oblivious that they happened to pulled over their caravans near a lair of the Genei Ryodan – a famous group of bandits also called as Spiders. _

_The Hematite nomads caught the interest of the leader of the said bandits and showed up in their camp that night like an unexpected guess that seemed to carry a harmless intention. Kuroro Lucifer, the leader of the Spiders looked like a young man with black hair and black eyes. He was wearing a black Japanese school uniform. Because of his features, the Hematites could not help but suspect that this man could be one of them. _

_The chieftain invited him to sit in front of the bon fire along with him. Meanwhile, the whole tribe was unaware that they were being observed themselves by the other members of the said bandits who had hid themselves in the darkness surrounding the camp._

_The chieftain asked his people to leave them on their own; his people obeyed immediately._

"_It's rare to meet such a lad like you who spill other's blood without hesitation for the mere sake of indulgence. So fearful I doubt that you're still a human being. Why are you here? Did you come to spill my people's blood and mine?" The chieftain regarded Kuroro. The bonfire reflected on the eyes of both of them._

"_Thank you for the compliment but aren't you exaggerating it a bit? And no, just mere curiosity led me here" The young man with a raven hair responded with a mild grin._

"_No need for pretense. You're mild demeanor won't fool me. Devil can recognize his fellow devil."_

_Kuroro Lucifer chuckled. "Okay, old man, I can tell that you want me to do something for you." _

_A short moment of silence._

"_You are a dangerous young man, but you do not lack empathy. No wonder you can lead such a dangerous army."_

_How the old man knew that Kuroro leads a gang was something he could ponder about later. Perhaps he sensed that their camp was being surrounded. In any case, this had rather impressed the leader of the Spider._

"_There is a Kingdom guarded by high and mighty walls built within the mountain range of Rukuso Region at the north of this continent." The Hematite chieftain continued. "The people's eyes were burning embers, glowing vividly like fire, triggered only when hate and rage take over them. But the beautiful colour will remain only when their owners die."_

_Fascinated by the old man's description, Kuroro replied, "So, do you want us to steal those eyes for you?"_

"_No, I want their death. All of them. And you can have their eyes for yourselves as the toll."_

"_May I know why?"_

"_No significant reason. I am just a sinful man like you. Simply that my hate for them is still so great, for some reason, it won't leave me in peace. And for the lack of capability to satisfy my revenge, I have to make a deal with a twelve-legged devil."_

_It seemed Kuroro Lucider was amused with the old man's honest bluntness that he agreed with the deal. And so the Spiders made their way to the Walled Kingdom and ended the days of all Kuruta members in a blood bath, taking 36 pairs of eyes with them as souvenirs. Or so they thought they had killed them all._

* * *

"**How did you know all these?" Kurapika asked in a grave tone. Art could almost see the flare of her scarlet eyes seeping through her black contact lenses. He assumed that the blonde hunter was close to breaking down or exploding in rage.**

"**Merula told me. She knew all about it." The agent answered simply. "Before the chieftain died, she managed to look into his memories. She can do that."**

* * *

_Art stared through the transparent fiber glass window of the watch room where a girl, around 14 years of age, was held prisoner. The girl had a pale white skin and shoulder-length black, wavy hair; she was wearing a white hospital gown. She was sitting on a hospital bed, staring down at the floor with a blank expression. There was a bandage around her head, covering her left eye. Some of Art's co-worker said that the girl tried to claw out her left eye. They had a hard time preventing her from doing it; some of them died and got hurt when they tried to foolishly stop her physically and the girl fought back using talons and claws that mutated out of her limbs._

"_Merula, I'm sorry," Art whispered, his voice steamed and created a moist on the fiber glass of the window next to his mouth. He was not sure if the girl could hear him, but he was aware that the new Merula in front of him had a keen sense of hearing. "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness but I want you to know that I've never wanted this. I hope you understand."_

_The girl did not make a slightest change in her position; she would not look at him. Finally, Art gave up and left – that was only time when Merula turned her head and looked at the window. No one was there anymore._

_Merula could not recall exactly how long she had been held captive in the Organization's research facility since she was caught by them from Rukuso Region. Perhaps three year? It could be more or less than that. The scars she got from the burn were no longer visible on her skin. Actually, her skin looked so smooth it was as if she did not suffered from it. Or probably, it was the effect of the having such a greatly enhanced resilience she acquired ever since she was born again._

_Merula swayed her foot off the bed and walked quietly towards the window. She could hear something – some people were crying for help, begging to let them go. Their voices were coming closer. Soon, five people with black hair and black round eyes – members of the Hematite tribe – trotted in front of the window in a line, hand-cuffed, with a couple of armed men escorting them. They saw Merula watching them pass by with a deadpanned expression. They probably could not recognize who exactly she was, but based on Merula's looks, they knew she belonged to the same race like them._

* * *

"**The Organization started to hunt down the rest of the Hematite members throughout the continent. I heard a lot of them had rebelled against their chieftain, departed the tribe and lived on their own. The Organization hunted them down to use them as lab rats and living source of specimen for the project. They wanted to develop more creatures like Merula which they can use as biological weapons – deadly living beings that can turn their body parts into deadly weaponry with bodies capable of unbelievably fast resilience, cell regeneration and superhuman strength that can take down an entire army. Mafias and nations would bow to Venom organization's feet just to get their hands on such a product to fortify their power.**

"**However, the first batches of experiments failed continuously. The experiment always produced a deformed monster that would go berserk and was hard to control and most of them were short-lived. They could not produce a perfectly human-shape and stable one like Merula. It did not take long though before they figured out what was missing to make the experiment succeed. Guess what it was."**

"**The scarlet eyes." Kurapika said hesitantly.**

"**Unfortunately, yes." Art continued. It was noticeable that he had slightly recovered from crying , although his eyes were still swollen and he would occasionally blow his nose. "That time, your tribe had already been annihilated by the Spiders and worse, their eyes were stolen and were scattered in different continent. It was not easy for the Venom organization to acquire a single pair of them, especially that they would have to compete against the collectors and to convince them to let them sell it to them. Not to mentioned, the eyes were so damn hard to find. They needed the eyes to be able to mix a Kuruta DNA with a Hematite's DNA, but actually, it was not that simple.**

"**Apparently, a successful experiment would be a creature with a perfect combination of Hematite and Kuruta's DNA and should at least have a scarlet eye. The organization concluded that a scarlet eye will serve as an amplifier and battery that will regulates the creature's ability to mutate its body parts into deadly weapons. The vital ingredient to complete the product they wanted. Without it, the output is useless.**

"**So, since the Organization only managed to acquire a genuine pair, but they wanted to produce more, they attempted to clone the eyes. Turned out though, even if they managed to produce some of it with the exterior of seemingly perfect replica of them, they weren't as effective as the original ones."**

* * *

_The sound of alarm wailed through the entire research facility. Red lights flickered sharply as the research staff and armed men run here and there. A grave accident had occurred and Merula, could only watch those people ran around frantically __through the fiberglass window of her room_.

_She pressed her face against the fiber glass and listened intently for a minute._

_Finally, Merula moved away from the window. She walked as far away from it until her back was almost touching the wall. Her left arm transformed into a scythe. Then she dashed towards the window. Several swift swings of Merula's scythe against the fiber glass, and the window broke into shards. Then, Merula came jumping out through it and landed on the hallway's floor on her bare feet._

_Several armed men came running towards her firing armalites towards her direction but she disappeared even before the bullets touched her. Then blood came gushing out of those men's body as Merula appeared behind them; their blood dripping from her scythe. Before their mutilated bodies hit the floor Merula was already sprinting though the facility, killing anyone who gets in her way without hesitation._

_Art's countenance showed that all hopes had already left him as he sat on the floor clumsily in front of the huge hideous creature in front of him –a monster that looked like a giant toad with swollen limbs and dispersed long strands of blonde hair. Its jaws with disbanded human teeth were hanging loose and drooling. _

_It was still fresh in Art's memory how this monster appeared in there – a fellow researcher came rushing towards him and told him there had been serious accident in one of laboratories involving his wife, Dianna. All that Art heard was that his wife was ordered to deliver test tubes of chemicals to a certain room to assist a scientist and then it happened. Art could not accept that his wife getting infected by the virus meant for test subjects. Art refused to believe that his wife being accidentally infected by the said virus was just a mere accident. The organization should not have had involved his wife in their operation. She was better off as a regular hostage confined and safe from the dangers of the facility. They should not have had forced her to work for them, too._

_Dianna's body mutated into a vicious monster right in front of him when he ran off to the said room upon hearing about the accident. The monster who used to be his dear wife had killed three men who tried to hold it down and it seemed that it will kill him next. Dianna, his beloved wife, from the moment Art saw her turned into something like this, he knew she was gone already. Art knew that once a human being was infected by the virus, there was no cure for it. It was the same as being dead._

_So Art decided to just sprawled there on the floor and waited for his beloved wife to end his life for him, thinking that there was no use for him to live anymore if the only reason he was living his life for was already gone. _

_The monster paced closer to him, opened its jaws wider, aiming at his head to bite it off._

_But no death came upon him. Instead, Art heard a sharp 'thwack' and then blood spattered at him, staining his white lab coat with red warm liquid. The monster in front of him collapsed and stopped breathing. Blood pooled under it. Behind the monster stood a girl with black hair matted with blood, wearing a hospital gown stained with crimson mottles. Her bare feet padded onto the pool of blood towards the browned-haired man sprawling pathetically on the floor; his sage eyes staring blankly at the hopelessness and even though Merula stood in front of him just less than a couple of meters away, he did not wavered._

_The black haired girl raised her blood-stained talon and pointed the end of it between Art's unblinking eyes deprived of hope._

"_Artemio," Merula spoke in a hollow voice. "Look at me."_

_It took five seconds before Art stirred his dazed head slowly upward and looked up at the stoic face of the girl in front of him. Merula looked back down at him coldly with a pair of mismatch orbs – her left eye was black as oblivion while the other was burning vividly scarlet like ember. The bandage around her head fell loose and dangled clumsily over her face and shoulders. _

"_Come with me." Merula said, "or DIE."_

* * *

"**I joined Merula in her escape."**

_Merula leaped and sprang onto enemies throughout the hall of the research facility, lethally slashing and stabbing them using her own weapons materialized from her own limbs. Art covered her up by shooting the rest of those who showed up to stop him and Merula from breaking out using a handgun he stole from one of the dead guards. The two stained several hallways with blood of people they killed; dead bodies of people in lab coats and of armed men lay on the floors of the hallways._

"**I took Merula here – in my home."**

_That rainy night, the six year younger version of Marj and Uncle Rudy were all shocked to see Art suddenly stumbled along the front door of the bar area of their home. He was a total mess – he was drenched from the rain, his shirt were wet and was covered in mud and blood; he looked completely drained and worn out. Uncle Rudy ran to him and the young man collapsed half-conscious onto his arms. Then he saw the girl stood in the shadows in bloody hospital gown standing silently at the porch just beside the door frame; her head and upper face veiled by Art's dirty lab coat._

_For several nights, Art's relatives watched him cry as he narrated all that had happened, including the death of his beloved wife, Dianna, in the hands of the Organization. Merula was there, too – always quiet and stoic. Marj learned that it was dangerous to be around two meters within her range; there was something abnormal in that girl's body._

_After a month, Art saw Merula leaving his home in leather ensemble that Marj had generously lend to her. He noted that Merula's hair had seemed grown longer again – it was below her shoulders now. Art could almost see the image of the Merula he knew more or less 4 years ago coming back._

"_Not so fast!" Art declared as he ran after her. Merula came into a halt but not craning at the panting brown-haired man behind her._

"_Don't try to stop me." She said in a flat tone. Her statement did not even sound demanding but nonetheless, she would speak through actions if Art refused to take her warning and dared to do something stupid._

"_I'm not trying to stop you." Art replied. "Whatever you're planning to do, wherever you're going, please take me with you. I can give you a hand."_

"_What can someone like you do?"_

_Art stooped on fours to the ground and bowed down his head before Merula._

"_I'm begging you to take me with you and let me assist you. That's the only way I can think of to redeem myself. PLEASE!"_

"_Are you sure?" Merula asked as she craned finally. "You might regret it."_

_Art raised his head and pulled himself to his feet and faced Merula with a stiff countenance._

"_Regrettable or not, I don't care anymore."_

* * *

"**I resolved to assist Merula on whatever she wanted to do after all that happened. I knew she got some newly-found goals. That was the only way I could think of to redeem myself to her and to correct the grave mistakes I committed. It was also the only way I could exact revenge against the Organization who killed my wife.**

"**Merula and I returned to Rukuso Region then. I already told her the news about the massacre of the Kuruta tribe. That she won't find anyone there anymore but…"**

_Merula stood in front of the 36 graves inside the ruins of the Kuruta Kingdom. She just stood there and travel her eyes from the grave yard and then to the rest of the remains of the kingdom. The cold breeze blew against them, making Merula's black locks dance beside her face and shoulders._

"_Do you have any idea who set all these graves?" Merula inquired._

_Art, who was dazed for a moment suddenly snapped back to reality after hearing Merula's question, then he replied, "No. I don't know." He raised his head and met Merula's apathetic gaze. She stared at him solidly for several seconds as if she was silently accusing him of lying which made the brown-haired man flinch. Finally, Merula blinked and began to walked away to the sunset._

* * *

"**After Merula learned everything from me all about the Organization's plan, even though her countenance was unreadable, I already had ideas what she was planning to do. But I was not expecting that her ways will be so inhumanely cruel.**

"**Merula hunted down every single members of her tribe. Killed every single one of them. Burned their corpses into ashes."**

_Art could still remember the day he and Merula breached into another branch of the Venom's research facility where several Hematite members were held captive. They set the whole construction on fire and Merula chased every single Hematites that managed to escape from the burning building. Dark blood gushed heavily from each body as she mercilessly mutilated them. Art witnessed it all happened before him. He just stood there and watched Merula did the massive slaughter. Even her mother who managed to escape from her once [*refer to the flashback scene in Chapter 04: "Face Off"]; she did not stop until she found her again and end her life. _

_Art asked himself if this beautiful girl with a stoic face before him; this girl with angelic face who kills people without even batting an eye lash was really the same Merula he knew before – the helpless and innocent little girl back in Rukuso who always smiles and cry on little things. He noted, the present Merula was not smiling anymore nor crying. She was nothing less than a killing emotionless doll. She was like that ever since the day she was reborn. Art wondered if those missing emotions were also lost in the fire during her execution. Perhaps they were._

* * *

"**It seems that from the day Merula was reborn, she can no longer express any strong emotions. She was..uh…stoic all the time. She wouldn't blink an eye when she kills." The agent winced at the thought. "At first I thought it was just that…probably all the terrible events she has gotten through had made her so numb but…It wasn't exactly what I thought it was.**

"**Merula is actually controlling…or holding back her emotions on purpose. **

"**Kurapika tell me, what triggers your eyes to become red?"**

**Kurapika seems to be deep in thought as Art asked her about this, then she replied, "Emotio—"**

"**Emotions, isn't it? The same goes with the monster inside Merula's body…Whenever she loses her cool, the monster would materialize in her and…believe me Kurapika, I know Merula doesn't even like it one bit.**

"**She confessed to me once that sometimes when it happens…, the monster inside her would attempt to take over her consciousness completely; would try to possess her body; would attempt to take over her mind. So it seems the only way to keep it dormant was for her to restrain her own emotions.**

"**That's why Kurapika, you shouldn't have had provoked her yesterday."**

"**I..." Kurapika stuttered. After 5 seconds of silence, guilt was on her countenance. She heaved a deep sigh, "I'm sorry…I didn't know."**

"**Now you do. And I think the fact that Merula actually wanted to restrain that abomination inside her is enough proof that she doesn't really want to hurt innocent people. But circumstances and people themselves would often test her limits.**

"**Can you just imagine it? How it was an excruciating torture for your cousin to be like that – holding and restraining her emotions all the time just to keep that thing locked up inside of her; to keep innocent people safe from herself? **

**Art wanted to but did not dare to ask literally the blonde hunter, but mentally he made a question- which was more painful of the two: your own clan hunting you down and wanting you dead? Or your whole clan being massacred in front of you? But the agent believed such terrible things should not be compared. After all, no one wanted or deserved any of it.**

* * *

_In one of their hunts, Art threw up as he could not stand watching the gore anymore. The scene had really turned too revolting for him. But still, he was compelled to help gathered the corpses and hauled the mutilated body parts together into heaps. Then they soaked them in gasoline and set them all ablaze. _

_Merula did the same to the rest of Hematites she hunted down throughout the continent. Soon, she finally found the camp of those who had stayed loyal to her Grandfather. They suffered the same fate like the others before them on her hands. Merula set their caravans on fire together with every single thing that belonged to them and burned them into cinders with their bodies. She made sure that even the tiniest trace of them was erased. _

_It was a HOLOCAUST! The Genocide she put upon her own clan!_

* * *

"**Merula did all of it for REVENGE?!" Kurapika exclaimed. She could feel her stomach beginning to hurl in disgust.**

"**NO!" Art answered. "It was NOT for the sake of revenge, Kurapika. It was to thwart the Organization's operation from creating more replica of Merula! She decided to erase every single members of her clan so that the Organization won't have any more sources of ingredients for their experiment; no source of specimen for the reproduction of more abomination. Of more _like her_!…. I also didn't agree with it but nothing could change her mind. Her resolve was too strong."**

Art recalled what Merula onced told him when he asked her himself why she did such thing.

_Merula said, "My clan rather die in my own hands than letting them be used by greedy strangers to create more abominations for their own foul motives. I don't care about humanity. I'm not doing it for the sake of it. It's simply for the sake of my own pride."_

"**Then tell me, Art, how come I don't remember anything about her and her brother? How come I don't remember anything about the bloody cremation rite? Merula's death and her brother's death – you said I was the one who witnessed the siblings and their mother by the waterfalls. But I remember none of it!"**

"**You were there in the cremation rite. You saw it all happened, Kurapika."**

* * *

_The young Kuruta Princess stared at the void with her scarlet eyes. The image of the monster, that her beloved cousin transformed into, while killing other Kurutas replayed in her mind over and over again. She had been like that ever since the bloody incident in Miruki's cremation rite took place. It was too much for her young mind; she could not take it all that it destroyed her sanity._

_Young Princess Kurapika stayed in her room; she could not eat; could not speak. Nightmares about Miruki transforming into monster and killing her comrades haunted her every night. Soon, she refused to sleep either and her health began to fail._

_The advisers in Kuruta Royal court only concluded one solution to save the Princess. They could not afford to lose her whom was in line for the throne. Therefore, they decided to erase her memory – all about her cousin, Miruki, and his younger sister, Merula, as well as the annihilation of 2/3 of the population of their tribe during the cremation rite – none of this will be remembered by her anymore. Through the memory wipe the Princess's health would be restored._

* * *

"**For Merula," Art continued. "The moment the stigma in the blood of her clan was discovered by outsiders, she knew that her tribe was fated to be doomed. Just like your tribe, Kurapika. Think about it. If they were still alive, no matter how many generations your Kingdom creates, no matter how long they live, eventually, their end will surely come."**

**Abruptly, the Kuruta stood from her seat and grabbed the agent by neck of his shirt and snarled, "I demand you to take back what you said."**

"**Kurapika, accept it!" Art sighed without making a slightest attempt to break free from the blonde hunter's clutch. He looked straight into her eyes and added. "As long as there are greedy people out there, as long as there are those who mercilessly hurt and kill people to satisfy their greed, people like _us_ are doomed. The world is doomed. Your people being cursed with scarlet was what made them especially in the primary list of being damned to extinction."**

**Kurapika slowly let go of the agent, her eyes were like embers sharpy glaring down at him. Eventually, her hands went limp and she went back to her seat. She bent down her head and pressed her face against the palm of her hands. Art heard her began to sob. Then, he stood up from his seat and dared to give the blonde hunter a reassuring embrace. At first the Kuruta pushed him away, but the agent obstinately repeated the attempt. Soon, because it seemed that the moment she started to weep, her strength vanished, Kurapika finally let Art wrapped his arms around her. They would probably stay like that for a couple of minutes.**

**Merula stood in the darkness, behind the door adjacent to the veranda where Kurapika and Art were, for practically five minutes since she returned unnoticed. She finally decided to retire to her room. Tomorrow, Merula thought, she will need Marj to cut her hair that had grown down beyond her waist. She will have to acquire a new set of leather ensemble, too. And have a _serious_ talk with Art.**

….to be continued….

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Okay...first I wanted to apologize for taking so damn long before I update this fanfic again! But hey! Let me make it up to you by updating a chapter containing more than 8,000 words. Yeah, I did my best to compress the remaining revelations which supposedly be made of 3 more chapters, but since I'll be busy until the end of the year, I spend a whole week off from work to write these all down! Therefore I apologize if the sequence would seem out of order just in case and that there are lots of grammar and spelling mistakes. Not to mention some parts were written lacking enough details - Yeah, some were too compressed. Sorry about that ^^'. Anyway...This one is not really final yet though. Actually, I'm having this beta-read by someone and still waiting for it. So gonna update this chapter when the beta-read version arrived. it's just that just in case the time might come that I don't even have time to update this chapter so I'm giving you a somewhat raw version of this chapter just so you already have the idea of the story. Besides I might update this again next year. You see I'll be really busy until the end of the year. Mind you I only managed to update this again after more than 4 months; was really busy that time. So yeah, I made it up to you by writing a chapter this long because I might not be able to update this again for a very long time. But I think the next chapter would be really fun ;D Followed by another set of action-packed chapters ;D.

Anyway. Thanks a lot for the patience of this fanfic's readers :D I really appreciate it :) Hope you enjoy reading this one, too.

And don't forget to review ;D


	25. Chapter 24: A Day Before The Fiesta

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter nor all the characters pertaining to it, except my OCs Merula and Art, and the rest of other characters not pertaining to the Hunter X Hunter anime/manga.

**Warning:** Referring Kurapika here as female. Some OOCness (but it's inevitable right? ;P ) Some cursing …Set in AU.

**Note:** [Please review….Sorry for some grammar, typo, and spelling errors if there are still any ^^']

* * *

**Chapter 24**

**A Day Before The Fiesta**

The moment Kurapika stepped out of her bedroom the next morning; she was already preparing questions for Art before she see him that day. She wanted to ask how long will they keep her confined in such a place and procrastinate (since she made a deal that she was going to cooperate in their mission somehow) and when will they leave this place and set out for the said mission?

"Good morning." The Kuruta greeted Marj reluctantly and without enthusiasm the moment she saw her in the bar area. Kurapika concluded that Marj probably had so many side-line jobs. Besides being a member of the band, bar manager and a techie for Art and Merula, now she was also a hairdresser, she got a customer today - a young girl with ridiculously long, black hair.

"If you like some coffee," Marj said without looking at the Kuruta while she combed a tress of curls from the girl's head, "you can get some from the brewer. The sugar and cream are just beside it."

Kurapika was about to enter the kitchen when Art appeared in front of her carrying a tray of _pandesal_ breads _(a type of Filipino morning bread)_ two cups of coffee, a small box of cream and some sugar cubes in a saucer.

"Well, good morning, Princess. I was just about to go up to your room and bring you breakfast in bed." Art grinned.

Kurapika frowned. "Glad you didn't." She noted thoughtfully that it was unacceptable idea that a guy like Art who would just enter her room without her knowing it.

"You act like someone who has a hangover even though I was the one who was a bit drunk last night." Art reached out a cup of coffee on a saucer to the Kuruta.

"How could you remember if you were drunk last night?" Kurapika inquired rather suspiciously and took the cup hesitantly.

"I guess I wasn't that drunk then", Art smiled and walked towards one of the tables in the bar and sat. "Care to join me?"

The Kuruta blinked a couple of times and stared at the agent for a moment suspiciously. Art was unusually cheerful that day. Probably because last night, he finally managed to let go a heavy weight he had been keeping in his for years; the skeleton he's been hiding in his closet. He even cried it all out, too.

Kurapika walked towards Art with her two hands carefully trying not to spill the coffee in her cup and sat along the agent by the table.

"Have some _pandesal_ bread while they are still hot," Art offered. He took one and dipped it in his coffee and took a big bite from it. He smiled at the Kuruta Princess as he chew as if showing her that it was how the bread was eaten.

Kurapika stared again for a moment as if seeing something ridiculously new in her whole life.

"No. Thank you." Kurapika drunk her coffee, ignoring the bread.

"Why don't you just keep your hair that way, Merula." The agent joked as he craned at Marj and the girl with the ridiculously long, wavy hair.

The Kuruta almost spat her coffee when she recognized who the black-haired girl was.

"You okay?" Art looked at Kurapika with concern. She was covering her mouth with a hand (like a lady) and coughing, trying to hold back in what was about to come out. The coffee invaded her lungs.

Marj hooted with laughter.

"Bet you didn't recognized Merula with a long hair."

"Cut it short please." Merula demanded. She did not give a damn about Art's joke nor how utterly funny it was that Kurapika choked in her coffee just because she failed to recognize her immediately.

Marj took several seconds to save herself from drowning in her own laughter.

"This... Made my morning!" She said as she shoook her head and began cutting Merula's hair above the shoulder. "Why don't you share your secrets to your cousin, Merula, on how to grow your hair in just one night."

"No, thank you." Kurapika declared.

"So you finally know the two of you are cousins. No hugs?"

"Stop it." There was a slight anger in Merula's tone. She refused to meet Kurapika's eyes as the Kuruta stared at her.

"How—"

"None of your bloody business!" Merula announced right before Kurapika could utter the rest of the question.

"Blood is thicker than water you know." Art said in a flat voice.

"If you say another word again, and lump me with that bitch I'm going to cut her head off right here, right now."

"You're joking." Art said.

"Fortunately, I'm not."

Kurapika stood up abruptly, glared at Merula and opened her mouth. She wanted to scream and snapped at Merula but when she spoke, her voice was soft, "I'm no bitch. Please, don't call me one."

After what she heard last night, she could not bite back at Merula anger to anger anymore; especially now that she understood her rage. But God knows she despise like being called a 'bitch' nor any other sort of profane names. Her eyes were flaring but she kept her composure. Kurapika realized she needed to be the patient and understanding one this time. She will no longer challenge or taunt Merula in a fight. Besides, she got the answers to all her questions already. Art kept his word. It would be better if she do him a favour not to cause any more trouble for him and his family anymore. What Kurapika felt that time was beyond explanation. It was too much to digest.

Art's uncle and his daughter, Lina, who was behind him, appeared by the door of the kitchen and stared. "Everything alright?"

Art's daughter peered at Kurapika with eyes that had lost all its trust on her.

The Kuruta suddenly decided to leave the room and go upstairs. She felt like crying but she had been too strong already for a long time to allow it now.

Art followed her.

"I want to be alone." The Kuruta declared as she glared at the agent who was walking behind her. She stopped by the door of her bedroom.

"Let's talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about, Art."

"You know, Merula is too serious, it's hard to humour her. But again it's probably my fault, too."

"If you know that's the case then you shouldn't have done it in the first place."

"You know….It won't hurt to be a real woman once in a while."

"What on earth are you talking about suddenly?"

"I mean, you don't always need to hold it back. Don't always keep it to yourself."

"What is?"

"Your emotions?"

Kurapika frowned at him in disbelief.

"Is that how you amuse yourself? Watching people get emotional?"

"No. I just think it will make you feel better. There's nothing bad in getting emotional once in a while you know."

Silence.

"Thank you. But I will be fine."

Art walked towards Kurapika until he was just a foot apart from her. He opened his arms.

"I think you just need a hug."

"No, thank you." The hunter slammed the door shut in front of Art's face.

"Ang cute mo pa din kahit masungit ka." (You're still cute even when you're grumpy.)

"What?" The Kurutan hunter inquired from the other side of the door.

"I said, we'll leave a day after tomorrow."

When Kurapika opened the door, Art was gone.

* * *

"Satisfied?" Marj hold the mirror in front of Merula to show her reflection. She got the same short hair like before. The black-haired girl took off the fabric that protects her body from the hair shavings. Then, she stood up and started walking away.

"You're welcome." Marj insinuated with sarcasm.

"Merula, I need a favour to ask." Art declared as he appeared by the stairs walking down. Merula stopped on her tracks and looked at him apathetically.

"By the way, nice hair cut." Art raised two thumbs up at Merula.

* * *

Merula swished her hand several times and a whole bundle of bamboo trees collapsed to the ground.

"You know, you don't really need to cut them all clean but I guess it's inevitable. Thanks anyway, Merula." Art said and watched her walks away and disappeared.

The next couple of hours were quite boring and uneventful for Kurapika who decided to meditate in her room. Lina came in her thoughts. She remembered the little girl's frightened face when she saw Kurapika's scarlet eyes. It broke the Kuruta's heart when she remembered the look in her face telling her without spoken words that she betrayed the little girl. Lina lost all her trust in her the moment she revealed herself to be an object of the girl's fear. She started to wonder if there is a chance that she could win Lina's trust again. But then, is there even a point in doing so?

There were loud knocks on her door suddenly.

"Hey, Princess!" It was Marj. The Kuruta opened her door and saw Marj reaching out a basket to her.

"Quit being such a lazy ass in there and take some snacks to the beach. Your boyfriend's probably starving to death by now. He's been working hard."

"I don't have a boyfr-"

"Yes, take this to Uncle Art and his friends. It's almost lunch time. Your lunch is in here, too. Lina will accompany you there." Marj pushed the basket onto Kurapika and left without a word. The hunter saw Lina standing at the landing of the stairs silently. She gave Kurapika a brief look and then cast her eyes on the floor shyly.

When they reached the beach, they saw a beautiful lady in dress with long dyed hair forcefully gluing herself onto Art who was topless and sweaty from building a hut in the beach with the other men. Kurapika suddenly felt an extreme annoyance growing inside her. The expression in her eyes failed to conceal it though. Fortunately, she was wearing contacts to conceal the fiery color.

"Will you please, let me go? People might get the wrong idea." Art told the girl, he sounded uncomfortable.

"Why not? The moment I heard you came back here I flew from Manila immediately just to see you again. Can't you see how much I look better and improved? I miss you so much, babe."

The girl pressed herself even more against Art that her round and full breasts were in a good view for the agent's eyes and his arms can feel their softness against his bare skin. Art tried not to look down at them but failed.

"Ehem!" Kurapika declared loudly, interrupting the two.

"Oh, Princess! Glad you're here!" Art walked towards the Kuruta but the girl refused to let go of the agent's arm. She walked along with him and stared at Kurapika with disinterest. "You brought our lunch right?"

"Working hard eh?" Kurapika glared at him. "Working hard to pick up some girls."

Art laughed nervously. "No, I'm not picking up girls."

"That's not what I'm seeing right now though."

"Who is this flat-chested tomboy anyway?" The girl broke off glaring at the Kuruta from head to toe.

Kurapika tried her best to hold back herself from snapping and clawing the girl's pouting face. She managed to hold her head up and keep her composure, but the frowning on her face was still obvious.

"Babe, don't tell me you chose an unsexy fashion disaster over me?!" The girl continued. An angry nerve started to throb on Kurapika's temple. She was trying not to hold down her hand which seemed too eager to smack a judgmental bitch in front of her, who clings tightly onto the agent like a snake. Art was trying to shush the girl, while practically trembling as he could feel the Kuruta's accumulating anger was about to explode.

Kurapika shoved the basket onto Art's chest; she shoved it so hard that he almost tripped backwards with the girl. Kurapika walked back to the house with clenched fists.

"What's up with her?" The girl complained. Shock and confused, Art watched the Kuruta walked away silently, although he could feel a frightening aura emitting from her from the distance. Lina just stood there, and stared at her father and shook her head in disapproval.

"What?" Art shrugged at Lina, inquiring what he did wrong.

Marj saw the Kuruta entered the house and went past her without saying a word. Kurapika looked upset and stomped upstairs with tantrums. Then she heard her Uncle coming over calling the hunter's name.

"Kurapika, wait! It's not what you think!"

Then a girl appeared was running behind the agent trying to catch up.

"Babe, wait for me!" She said.

Marj drew an evil grin upon understanding what was going on.

* * *

Kurapika was sulking in her room like a child. She hated herself for acting like an upset kid. She could not understand though why she was being like that. She couldn't help it no matter how much she thoughtfully berated herself. It was one of those moments when her emotions were too strong for her to suppressed that she needed to run away and hide from everyone. She knew it has been her weakness for a long time and she hated it.

She bit her lips and tried hard to think of something else, hoping that soon, she would regain her composure and everything will be normal.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Go away, Art!"

"It's me, Marj. May I come in please?"

The hunter opened the door and saw Marj carrying a tray of food.

"I take it, you haven't had lunch yet."

"I'm not hungry."

Kurapika's stomach made a sound suddenly.

"Well, your tummy said you are hungry."

Kurapika let her in reluctantly and Marj put the tray on the side table.

"You should eat. A lot of visitors will come. You need energy to at least be able to get along with them."

"Why are you suddenly unusually nice to me right now? And why do I have to get along with strangers?"

Marj giggled. Then her giggle turned into laughter and she laughed wholeheartedly.

"What's so funny?"

"You were…," Marj said, "…jealous."

"WHAT?"

"Don't deny it. I'm a girl, too, you know."

"I assure you I'm jealous of nothing or no one."

"Really? So you will just let another girl steal my Uncle away from you?"

"I don't give a damn even if he flirts with other girls. He's free to do what he wants?"

"You know. There are plenty of girls here in our town. He could have had married one of them a long time ago but then suddenly, one day, he came back and brought someone like you. He never paid attention to any other girls for a long time since his ex wife died. Only to you."

Silence. Kurapika felt her cheeks burn.

"I suggest you eat your lunch now and then afterwards, wear a dress today. Wear something extra cute tomorrow night in the dance."

"Dance?"

"Tomorrow's the big day. Fiesta day. And there's going to be a mini ball at the beach. Uncle's helping out to build the dance venue right now. You've probably seen it earlier when you went there to deliver his lunch."

"Sorry, but I'm not interested."

"DON'T be such a BUMMER! I know a lot of things had happened before you came here. It won't hurt to chill out for a bit."

". . . . ."

"Anyway, if you don't want other girls to steal my Uncle's attention from you, try to be more feminine once in a while and wear something sexy, okay?"

"But…"

Marj already left the room before Kurapika could even protest.

Abruptly, Marj came back and poked her head in the room again.

"Oh, and by the way, you know that girl who was sticking herself like glue onto my Uncle? There's nothing you should worry about her, really. Besides, she's not even a real girl."

The Kuruta frowned.

"She's uh…you know, went under sex change and her boobs are fake. You'll do us both a favour if you'll help preventing that ….that person from….you know… Right?"

Marj finally went downstairs and left Kurapika utterly confused and wide-eyed.

* * *

There was a hidden paradise in a farther side of the woods along Art's House and apparently, Merula was the only one who had managed to visit this place so far. It has no easy access after all. A normal person will only be able to get there when he managed to climb down a cliff and cross over a hill made of huge rocks with sharp edges.

Along the wall of the cliff down its base was a stream of crystal clear water. Along its edges rooted thick bundles of huge trees growing healthily along its side and providing heavy shades and cool breeze around it. Large roots had grown wildly over and into the stream itself and practically serving as bridges leading to the other side.

Merula decided to spend a whole day in this secret paradise for a bit until the Fiesta is over. Besides, she knew that Art's house will be crowded with people soon. This was one of those perfect days for the Art's family business. A day before and the day during the Fiesta day, people search for beers and already-cooked food and people prefer to go to bars or resto instead of having a party in their own house. There will be more people in bars and resto and therefore more fun for them, too.

As for Merula, she hates people. She refused to dare socialize in such occasion. She would rather sit on these gigantic roots over the glittering stream and under the heavy shade of the trees and do some thinking.

Also, she was rather pissed about something. These things about Art and Kurapika. Merula noticed that the agent seemed to be taking the Kuruta rather seriously and she did not like it. It's not good at all. She thought Art was just bored and just wanted to have a playmate (at least temporarily so she gave it to him). As far as she knew about the agent's personality, he was one of those guys who were only into short-term dating just for the fun of it. He likes to pick up girls but leaves when it's starting to get a bit serious. But recently, Art seemed to be going too fast to the Kuruta. He couldn't be serious, right? He better not be serious.

Merula did not even want to imagine that suddenly a situation would arise one day when Art needed to choose between her and the princess. She doesn't want to turn an ally into an enemy. Not because she was afraid of Art, but rather because she was the scary one. That was the problem. She was a fearsome enemy and she doesn't want a day to come when she had to be the one to kill him for a reason. Besides, he knew a lot of things about her already. He already held so much information about her that she could not afford losing an ally like him.

Merula changed her mind and decided that she will come back to Art's place when it's already dark, and perhaps, after the occasion, she will talk to him about the matters.

* * *

Not too far from the coastal area of the island, a metallic vessel that almost looked like a giant capsule emerged from the sea. Inside it was not a human, nor an animal. Not a machine either but it was biologically alive. It was twice larger than a buffalo and it has one scarlet eye on its forehead.

The microchip implanted in its brains was being directed by a signal coming from a satellite leading to the direction it needed to go. And the place it had to go was close.

Finally, it came out of the water completely, revealing its segmented limbs - two pairs of hind legs and two pairs of front legs. The upper half of its face was like of an eyeless woman, merged deep into a huge swollen neck-less torso. It began to slither towards where Art's house was filled with people enjoying the Fiesta celebration.

….to be continued.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I just realized I haven't updated this for more than or almost two years now I believe? Also, I wrote this when I was taking a day off from work. I got commissions and project lined up so I really don't have time to update. Also, lots of personal things have happened.

Anyway, excuse the grammar and spelling errors again. I don't have time to reread this anymore. I'm really busy and also, I have no idea what I was writing when writing this chapter LOL! I seemed to have turned this one somehow into a chick flick. Yeah, I know it's such a crazy idea that I seem to ship fem version of the canon character with my male OC (wasn't in the original plan in the first place anyway since the story should be purely action sci-fi. But some people just requested it lol and I decided to give it a try). I'm trying to make this consistent with the previous chapters and is still based on 1999 anime version of Hunter X Hunter. Sorry, but this fic is not for femKurapika haters and is not totally consistent with the 2011 version since I started writing this fic year before 2011 version of the anime was aired ( if you know what I mean).

Anyway, hope you enjoy reading this nonetheless.


	26. Chapter 25: Rain and Celebration

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Hunter X Hunter or all the characters in it, except my OC Merula and other OCs.

**Warning: **Adult content. Referring Kurapika here as female. OC x fem Kurapika  
**  
**

**Note: **Please excuse some grammar and spelling errors as usual (^^);

* * *

**Taboo Eyes**

**Chapter 25:  
**

**Rain and Celebration**

* * *

It was Fiesta day in town! Almost every house had a feast and each table got their own catering of specially home-made delicacies - which is usually the main reason why people from other towns and tourists visit the town that celebrates fiesta day. The road was crowded. It was extra noisy, too, but that was what makes the celebration lively after all. The fiesta banners hanging on the streets made the celebration even more colorful.

The parade had began less than an hour ago in the center of the town. Several groups of people in costumes and gaudy make ups wit various styles danced their way into the town's plaza. People cheered loudly at each performer. Fathers raised their small kids to get a better view of the said parade; people were taking pictures, and some tried to dance along as well. Everyone was enjoying it.

By mid afternoon, Uncle Rudy's bar seemed to have turned into a buffet restaurant, but with extra supply of beers and other beverages. The number of costumers tripled that day. It was rather overcrowded. He and his family decided to work in such holiday. After all, it was when their earnings could be tripled, too.

At the same time, their service was hired by the chairman of the _barangay._ They shall prepare the foods and drinks for the dance party that they were going to hold later that night at the beach not far from their bar. The venue could actually be seen not far away from their bar itself.

"Where the hell is that spoiled princess?" Marj snarled at no one in particular as she hurriedly arranged the bottles of beer in some wooden cases. She had been working like that for a couple of hours now. She and Uncle Rudy alone, could not handle the constant demand of the beverages by the customer every 2 minutes.

"I need extra help here you know. Who does she think she is!? That goddamn freeloader!" Marj rubbed her hands dry with a rug and slapped it at the counter angrily and jogged her way up to the Kuruta's bedroom. she knocked on her door rather irately.

"Hey Princess! What did I told you yesterday?" Marj snarled. "Hey, you there?"

The door opened halfway.

"What do you want?" Kurapika's expression looked like of a kid grounded for a month.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Marj frowned, and traveled her eyes on the Kuruta from head to toe Marj was not amused that Kurapika was wearing a pair of trousers and lose shirts. "Where did you get that? Don't tell me you're gonna go out looking like you're in your pajamas in this occasion?!"

"I'm sorry but I'd rather stay here in my room." Kurapika answered obstinately. "I don't wish to mingle with too many strangers in such way of clothing you demanded me to wear."

Marj pushed the door wider and stepped into Kurapika's room and made and akimbo. "Who said you're gonna mingle with every strangers you'll see out there? I just want you to dress fitted in the occasion and help out with the business for a bit. What do you think our costumers will think of you if you go on around wearing like that? You might drive costumers away or give us bad impression because you'll look like some beggar we randomly picked up in the street and forced you into slavery. Have a little shame and stop being a freeloader even just for today, would you?"

Kurapika was going to say something but Marj cut her off. "Have you showered yet?"

"Yes."

"Good. Come with me." Kurapika was going to protest but Marj grabbed her by the arm and pulled her in her room before she could even dare to struggle.

The Kuruta just stood in the middle of Marj's room as she watched her dug some clothes and threw some blouses and skirts on the bed. She hanged them in front of Kurapika one by one, examining each of them if any of them will fit Kurapika's body size. The blonde hunter rolled her eyes.

"You need to look decent for the occasion, you know," Marj declared almost between breaths as she hurried. "Besides, I think my Uncle will be pleased to see you if you dress extra nice today." She giggled.

Kurapika heaved a deep sigh of disapproval. "I really don't care what he thinks."

"Aren't you now?" Marj announced with sarcasm. "Yesterday your face was all red with jealousy because of a transvestite."

"NO I wasn't!"

"Aww, denial is a sign!" Marj smirked and suddenly she shoved a half-sleeved vest and vintage skirt onto the Kuruta. "Wear that and when you're done, I'll give you a light make up."

"WHAT? Is that necessary!" Kurapika protested.

"YES! Or else..." Marj gave her the I-won't-take-no-for-an-answer look.

"...or else?" Kurapika frowned.

"I have information about the certain location of Venom's main layer. Some of the eyes of your people could be there. Merula and Uncle could decide to leave you out of the mission if they want to. And I'll make sure you won't get a share of that info at all." Marj answered gravely.

"All that just to wear these?"

Marj raised a finger. "Correct, seniorita!"she said cheerfully, grinning like a cat.

* * *

Merula stared intently at the distance like an eagle who just spotted her prey s she squatted on a tree branch 200 feet from the ground.

Neck stretched, she had not stirred her head nor her eyes to anything else but the East of the island. Her eyes fixed at the coastal horizon. There were dark and thick clouds approaching the land.

She can smell that ominously familiar scent and it was heading towards North. She kept on watch like that for another good two minutes.

Then she blinked and gasped. The smell was gone!

Was she just imaging things? No. She was was always sure with her senses when they detected something.

Merula straightened up without taking her eyes off in the East for a moment. She swung one leg and then in a blink she was falling down. Her feet landed on another tree branch and then she was sprinting like lightning from tree to tree heading to the direction where the smell used to be.

"Is the food ready?" Art inquired as he suddenly appeared by the door of the dining room, wiping the sweat on his face by a towel hanging around his neck. He looked rather exhausted. The first people who he saw were Kurapika and Lina who were sitting on the dining table, putting food on Styrofoam boxes that will be distributed later in the dance party at the beach.

Art smiled at Kurapika and raised his eyebrows at her [* in the Philippines, usually people greet another by raising their eyebrows at the person or people; another way of them of saying 'hi' without speaking ] and waved at Lina.

"Not yet." Kurapika looked away.

"I mean our lunch." Art followed up.

"It's almost ready Uncle!" Marj shouted from the kitchen. "We were planning to deliver them to the beach or are you planning to eat it here?"

"Nah, I'll eat it together with the fellow volunteers at the beach. Just checking out how you ladies doing actually." Art answered.

"You're acting unusually like a gentleman today. Something nice happened?" Marj yelled back.

"Nah..." Art turned at Kurapika and their eyes met. Then he sat next to her (rather closely, too) without taking his eyes off her. "Just saw a really pretty lady today."

The blonde hunter blushed hotly.

Lina curled her fingers next to her mouth, trying to conceal her giggle.

"You're welcome, Uncle!" Marj yelled again. "I did her make up and I chose the dress for heeeerrr!"

"You did great, Marj!" Art replied.

"Flattery won't get you nowhere!" Kurapika retorted, looking away snobbishly from the agent and continued what she was doing.

"Come on! All I wanted is you to be my dance partner tonight." Art whined.

"Sorry, but I don't dance."

"Funny for a princess like you lacking the ability to dance." Art smiled. "All princes can dance you know."

"Well, I'm not one of them." The blonde hunter replied firmly.

Then there was silence. She heard the agent sighed deeply and saw him stood up and did not say another word. As Art exited through the door. Did Kurapika just saw the hurt in the agent's face before he left?

Finally, Lina spoke to Kurapika while looking at her eye to eye, "It won't hurt dancing with Daddy just for tonight you know."

* * *

"Looks like it's going to rain." Kurapika whispered to herself as she looked at the dark sky from the distance over the bar's porch. It was almost sunset that time. She could see that the venue for the dance party was already crowded with people dancing along the music of the live band in which Marj's boyfriend was part of. She just watched silently, feeling rather guilty about earlier.

"Well I hope it won't. It will spoil everything." Uncle Rudy suddenly appeared beside the blonde hunter and leaned his arms on the railing of the porch. "Aren't you going to join the party?"

"Nah, I'd rather stay here, sir." Kurapika answered politely.

"Why not? Art is there. He sure needs a dance partner."

"Well, I'm sure he could easily find a another girl there to be his dance partner."

Uncle Rudy sighed and drew a sheepish grin.

"My nephew will be happier if it will be you."

The blonde hunter smiled shyly but shook her head disapprovingly.

"You know..." Uncle Rudy continued. "Artemio's deeply devastated when his wife, Dianna, died. He told me few times that probably he will never fall for a another woman again.

"After that, he was like some other guys who, to conceal the grief, he would ogled some girls and picks up on them but never take them seriously. he probably hoped it will at least lift up the pain. But believe me, **I know it** when he _**does** take a **girl seriously**_."

Uncle Rudy looked at Kurapika and gave her a gentle, fatherly smile. "I'm pretty sure that these pass few days that you're here with us, my nephew's been looking at you the same way he looked at Dianna before."

"HEY! Princess!" Marj appeared by the door wearing a prettier dress; her make up fixed. Lina was also with her, she was in a dress suited for her age in such occasion. "Aren't you coming along to the party?"

"You should go, too, dear." Uncle Rudy insisted to the blonde hunter.

"My friends will be there, too." Lina added helpfully.

"Right! It's not like we're going on a bar. It's public. It's Fiesta day and everyone's invited to join and celebrate it together. The more, the merrier." Marj said convincingly.

Kurapika sighed. "Alright."

"But first..." Marj interrupted. "Let me give your make-up a retouch."

* * *

In certain part of the island's woods, some wild boars lay on ground dead and bloody; some of them had their body twisted and teared apart. There are few other beasts who were still barely alive, breathing their last seconds. Only another beast stronger and larger than them could do this to them of course and this said beast was out of control. In thirst for more kill; attacking anything alive near it.

It slithered away from the carcasses; its segmented legs stepping over the flesh and blood silently and continued its journey through the woods, heading to the celebratory noises in the North. Its sole scarlet eyes in the forehead glowed like a tiny red beacon in the dark as it made its way through the woods in the locomotive-like speed.

* * *

"Cheers! Happy Fiesta!"

Art's drinking buddies had a toast with their bottles of beer. They had their drinking table set 15 meters away from the fence of the dance party venue.

"Can we have a drink?" Marj interrupted as she and Kurapika approached them. The blonde hunter could not look at the agent's face directly. She felt awkward; regretting her snobbish attitude towards Art earlier, but she still got not guts to put her pride behind and apologized to him.

"Ooh! Art! It's your pretty niece and your beautiful girlfriend!" One of Art's buddies pointed out as he opened a couple of bottles of beer for the two ladies.

The agent just smiled reluctantly and did not say a word. He looked at the Kuruta then looked away when she was almost looking back at him.

Marj reached a bottle to Kurapika. "No, thank you. I have low tolerance with alcohol." said Kurapika, not taking the bottle.

"Don't be such a party pooper! If you got drunk then Uncle Art will carry you back home." Marj insisted.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Kurapika replied.

"Don't force the Princess Marj. Let her be whatever the hell she WANTS." Art insinuated sarcastically. Then he stood up and walked away to the dancing venue.

The drinking buddies began teasing Art about having a lover's quarrel with Kurapika, but the agent just ignored it disappeared into dance floor. As Kurapika watched guiltily, she half consciously accepted the bottle of beer from Marj, and held it in one hand.

"I think you should talk to him." Marj suggested with a you-should-definitely-do-it-before-it-gets-worse look.

Kurapika rolled her eyes and gave the bottle back to Marj and reluctantly went to the dance venue. Marj took one big gulp of her beer as she watched in amusement, ignoring the noise and laughter of her Uncle's drinking buddies who were watching, too.

The Kuruta cautiously searched for the agent as she stepped into the dance floor crowded with strangers. It needed additional effort to look for him through all the crowds and blinding colorful lights of cheap disco balls. She edged around the line of seats along the fence, stretching her neck to look for any guy with coffee-brown hair. She found him, but this time, he was blended with other people in the dance floor, a girl put her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him as their body both swayed with the music. Not to mentioned that she laid her head on the agent's shoulder as they dance.

Upset, the blonde hunter immediately left the dance and walked hurriedly back to Marj with both hands fisted and with a deep frown on her face. Without saying anything, she snatched the bottle of beer from her hand and drunk all the liquor in several swigs until she almost emptied it.

Art's drinking buddies cheered as they watch her.

"Woah!" Marj exclaimed. "Thirsty suddenly? Where's Uncle?"

"Oh, he's busy!" Kurapika answered, trying to sound like she doesn't care. Her cheeks started to turn red. "I'd rather not disturb him. Can I have another bottle please?"

The drinking guys applaud at Kurapika , quite happy that she was taking another bottle and drinking it.

Marj just watched everything happened before her, but she was not pleased. She had no intention of stopping her from this unusual behavior though. All she knew was that Kurapika probably saw something disappointing enough to drive her to act as crazy as this. Although, she was not worried the least bit if the Kuruta got drunk to the point that she might need to carry her back home either; she has no intention of doing that anyway. She was more interested to see how this scenario will lead further.

_"Fine, let the bitch got drunk like hell."_ Marj declared thoughtfully as she drunk her own beer.

Art was about to exit the dance venue when one of his drinking buddies appeared in front of her leading the drunk Kuruta inside to dance. Kurapika could barely walk practically relying on the guy to keep her balance. She could barely open her eyes, too.

"Uy pareng Artemio!" ("Hey Art, buddy!") The agent's comrade greeted drunkenly, "Nalaman ko sa chicks na 'to na hindi ka naman pala nya syota. Pwede bang akin na lang sya?" ("Just learned from this chick that 'ya aren't really his boyfriend. Can I make her mine instead then?")

"Pare, lasing na lasing na sya. Tingin ko hindi nya alam pinagsasabi nya." ("Buddy, she's completely wasted already, I don't think she knows what she had been saying.") Art answered. His voice sounded serious and he looked like he was trying his best not to punch his face.

"Pero pare di ba kapag lasing ang tao, madalas nagsasabi siya ng totoo?" ("But dude, you know when a person is drunk, she usually says the truth, ain't that right?") The drunk guy replied obstinately.

"Pare, ang mabuti pa ibigay mo na sya sa akin at maihatid na sa bahay" ("Dude, give her to me, so I can escort her home.") said Art, endeavoring to stay calm. "Kailangan na nyang magpahinga." ("She needs to rest already.")

The agent was going to take the Kuruta by the arm when the guy slap his hand away.

"Pare naman! Bayaan mo nga sya. Hindi mo naman siya girlfriend at pumayag na siya na isayaw ko kaya wag kang makialam!" ("No dude, leave her alone, she's not your girlfriend and she agreed to dance with me so fuck off!") Art's drunk buddy retorted. His arms tightened around the Kuruta's waist. It woke her up a little and she began to try breaking away from him.

"Hey, let go..." Kurapika mumbled drunkenly. "I wanna... go home."

"Kurapika, let me help you." Art offered as he caught her by the arm tying to guide her as gently as possible. Kurapika pulled her arm away.

"Pare, sabi ko huwag kang makialam di ba!" ("Dude, I said leave her alone!") The drunk guy prompted again and pushed the agent away more forcefully which finally made Art snap.

_**PAK!**_

The agent hit the guy in the face, so hard he spun before he dropped to the ground and literally ate some dirt. It shocked Kurapika that it made her almost sober.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" The blonde hunter inquired angrily as she pushed Art away from the drunk guy, depriving the agent the chance to hit the guy again.

"WHAT the hell is wrong with **YOU**!" Art retorted, he was almost screaming. People began to gather around them to watch and murmur. Some _barangay_ police jumped in to pulled the two guys away before they try to beat each other again.

Suddenly, it started to rain. Kurapika turned her back at Art and ambled away angrily instead of running inside the dance venue to shelter herself from the rain like what the rest of the people in the party did. Art ran after her.

"**KURAPIKA!**" The agent called but the blonde hunter ignored him. "I'm talking to you, damn it!"

"Leave me alone!" The Kuruta replied angrily without glancing over.

"Why are you being like this?" Art finally reached her and grabbed her wrist. The rain was completely drenching them but they did not give a single damn.

Kurapika turned and tried to break away from the agent's grip, but she had drunk too much that the alcohol barely let her use enough strength to be able to set herself free. "How dare you ask me that. So you think you're the only one who can do whatever he wants?"

"I was just concern! God damn it, Kurapika! SO! You wanna go with him and let him do whatever he wants to you?"

"Why do you care? You do whatever you want on every girl that approaches you!"

"Oooh! So is this what it's all about?"

The blonde turned her back again and resume her pace.

"You are being so god damn unreasonable, Princess! I gave you some attention but all you did was ignore it and made bad comments about it. I gave you compliments and you think I didn't mean all that. I tried to make you smile but..."

Kurapika stopped on her tracks and faced the agent again. She looked at Art in disbelief.

"...But...GOD! DAMN IT!" The agent continued angrily, he ran his hands through his hair irately almost as if he was going to lose his mind. "I couldn't figure out anymore if you ever have a tiny bit of sense of humor. I almost _**died**_ for you damn it! I was willing to to throw my life away for you even if you did that stupid thing like provoking Merula! _**[*Chapter 18 & 19 - Art almost died because he used himself to shield Kurapika from Merula when she went berserk ]**_ I fucking sung a song for you and made a fool of myself and what did you do? You turned your back and run away to your room and hide!" _**[*Chapter 16: Realization ]**_

The Kuruta was speechless, her eyes blinked several times due to realization that what Art had said was true. How come she did not realize that now? How come she did not notice them? - all the efforts that Artemio did in the past days was for...

"Oh...Right. Who am I kidding?" The agent's face dropped. He bit his lips. His shoulder sagged. He looked like he was going to cry but the rain water streaming down on his face made it hard to recognize the tears. "I guess I was too dumb to realized that I was already **dumped**."

The Kuruta felt the guilt in her worsen. She knew for herself that she had not dumped anyone yet. She wished she could really say something immediately, but she could not think of any.

"I'm sorry. How embarrassing." Art continued not daring to look at Kurapika anymore; his lips trembling. "I will never bother you again."

Art walked passed her hurriedly heading home.

The blonde hunter stood in the rain and watched the agent trotted away until he disappeared from her sight. It was rather exasperating how long it took her to get the courage to ran after him.

Art locked himself in his room with 4 more bottles of beer he grabbed from the bar's fridge. Uncle Rudy saw him and asked questions but Art did not bother answering them. The agent would have to apologize to his Uncle tomorrow for that.

The agent's plan was to get himself drunk even more until he cannot take anymore beer until he pass out on his bed...and maybe, just maybe, tomorrow, he would not be able to remember everything that happened tonight. He had enough humiliation already and not to mention the pain of being dumped. He had faith on the alcohol to erase all that in his head by tomorrow and perhaps he can make an excuse to everyone, especially to the Princess like "Oh, I said that? Sorry, I can't remember, I was too drunk."

The lights in his room were out. The only illumination was the dim lighting from the outside, passing through the curtains of the window of his room. But the part where his bed was was dark enough to hide him and his countenance. That was good. He could not see his own reflection on the bottles of beer showing that tears were streaming down his face. He was silently nagging himself of how embarrassing it was to cry in front of the girl he likes last night, while telling all those stories about the past. That was so uncool and so not sexy, he began to think that he deserved to be dumped.

There was a knock on the door. He did not answer and continued to swig down a mouthful of beer. However, the knocks kept on.

"I'm tired!" He finally answered.

"Can we talk?" The Kuruta inquired softly.

"We can talk tomorrow, Princess." The agent almost choked in his sob. He mentally nagged himself to pull himself together. He gulped down hard and cleared his throat and repeated, "Um...yeah, let's just talk tomorrow when we're all sober, okay?"

"Art, please." Kurapika insisted and continued to knock on the door. It pissed the agent off a bit and finally made him stand up.

The door opened just barely. Only the agent's left eye and parts of his forehead peered through the opening. He did not want show all of himself to let her see how pathetic he was.

"What is it Princess?" Art inquired softly. He did not have the strength to reprimand her at the moment.

"May I come in?" The blonde hunter requested. She had not changed her clothes yet that had drench from the rain. The blonde strands of her hair were practically sticking against her cheeks and neck that it almost showed the real shape of his crown; her arms around herself. "Please?"

"I don't think it's a good idea." The agent prompted. "Really."

Not a good idea indeed - letting into his room a girl soaking wet in her clothes. Art felt like a complete crap that time but still, he is a man. Seeing a girl soaking in her clothes in his room could still trigger some provocative ideas in his head and worse, might made him do something unpleasant.

"Just..." The Kuruta looked down and tightened her arms around herself. "...I'm cold."

_"Is she kidding me?"_ The agent inquired thoughtfully. Nonetheless, he agent opened the door wider and let Kurapika stepped in, then closed the door again but not locking it.

Art sat on his bed and opened another bottle of beer and drunk. Even though it was dark, he can recognized the Kuruta's shape. She was just there by the door, standing, arms around herself and looking at him. He knew she was looking at him.

"What do you want?" Art said finally.

"I'm sorry," was all Kurapika said. He can hear her voice quiver.

"It's okay, really." Art replied as he continue to drink. He knew the Kuruta was drunk. "You should rest."

"Art..." Kurapika was really trembling this time The agent knew by the sound of her voice. Art was not sure if it was because of the cold or of something else.

The agent finally turned on his lamp shade making half of his room dimly lit but still leaving half of his room dark. He grabbed something from his closet - a towel - and walked towards Kurapika. He could barely see the shades of her colors because of the dim light of the lamp. He saw her eyes closed as she stood there.

Art put the towel around the Kurapika's shoulder.

"T-thank you." She muttered.

"I think you should go."

"Okay..."

Kurapika wobbled when she turned. She could have had hit the floor if the agent was not quick enough to catch her.

"I'm sorry." The Kuruta whispered.

"It's okay." Art replied as his arm hold her waist and accidentally pulled her too close to himself. The towel fell on the floor next to their feet. No one paid attention to it since both of them could feel the warmth of each others' skin.

"Sorry for bothering you." Kurapika continued, her voice was weak, she was close to passing out. The alcohol was really taking over her consciousness this time. "I...I guess I'm gonna go to..to my room...so can you please...Let go of me now? Art."

Apparently, the agent's arm kept her locked against him. Kurapika can feel something warmer on her shoulder. It was the agent's breath. He was kissing her neck.

The blonde hunter was too intoxicated to react. Probably she was not sure what was happening anymore, nor did she have even a little amount of consciousness to learn what Art was beginning to do on her.

It took a while before she noticed it. Kurapika struggled and tried to pull away. Art let her, but did not let go of her wrist. She turned and walked backwards as she tugged on her wrist, trying in vain to break free from his tight grip. She only ended up pressing her back against the door and the agent barricading her with his own body.

Art ran his hand over the door's side and set the lock.

Kurapika was pushing him away but she was too weak due to alcohol.

"I like you, Princess, I really like you." Art whispered to the blonde hunter's ear as his hands was making their way under her clothes. The Kuruta can only gasp and kept her hands between Art's torso and hers. "Would you be mad if I kiss you?" And he did kiss her, hard and passionately on the lips before the Kuruta could even answer.

"Nmmmm.." She moaned as the agent kissed her neck and collarbone. This time, his hand was caressing her thigh, completely feeling its warmth.

"Whu...ar...doin'?" she mumbled barely in a whisper. But Art could only moan her name between all the kisses he was giving.

Soon, his grip tightened on her back, pulling her body more forcefully against him. His needs was certainly recognized and his body had already began to act up to fulfill it.

Art's free hand finally made its way on her chest and indulged on the sensation of her small but full and soft, round flesh that proved that she was indeed a woman . Kurapika was helpless against the natural masculine strength triggered by such needs. She was too weak to stop it now. It was odd that it seemed a part of her mind was telling her to let it just happen.

The agent's mouth connected to the blonde hunter's lips again, and it indulged on their warmth and softness. She moaned silently as her aggressor kept touching her in sensitive parts. Her blouse was half torn from the agent's tugging but she did not notice nor care.

The two finally the fell down on the bed while still tangled together.

Art stooped over the helpless blonde in fours and dazedly stared at her for a short while. Although in his drunk state, the agent realized that the person beneath him was so pure, tender, but had grown enough to be called a woman, all the more that she appeared quite desirable for him. Her blouse's buttons had snapped off and therefore had pulled away to her side to reveal her luscious breasts. One of her legs folded and her skirt had crept up to reveal her soft and smooth thigh. Kurapika, feeling the softness of the bed underneath her began to lose her remaining consciousness into sleep.

The agent took off his shirt and unbutton his pants. He lowered himself and start kissing the Kuruta again while his hand massage her from her back to her buttocks. After a while, Kurapika began to kiss back (perhaps unconsciously) and put her hands around his neck. He broke off from her lips and began to kiss her from neck to the top of breasts until his mouth reached that certain spot and begin to suck on them.

Kurapika whimpered. The agent kissed her again by the mouth and soon she relaxed. In a minute, both of them lost all their clothing. The agent touched her more and played with her until he was certain that the Kuruta's body was wet enough and ready. The agent's legs pushed their way between the blonde hunter's and slowly he entered inside her.

Kurapika let out a huge gasp because of the pain but it was replaced with pants and silent moans of pleasure as the agent began to move inside her. Slowly and gently at first until gradually, they were moving faster in passionate rhythm. It was a completely new sensation for Kurapika - both physically painful and wonderful. It was strong enough to suppress any logical thought in her mind, too - like a strong spell that almost impossible for her to win against.

...to be continued.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_*me imagining kicking the door open to Art's room while holding a samurai sword*_

_*caught the two doing it*_

_*raise the sword high and aim to strike Art with the sword but the bastard managed to avoid it*_

_*starts chasing Art away with murderous intention not giving a damn if he runs off outside naked while me shouting: "You are so DEEEAAADD!" *_

_Nah, sorry. I'll be honest, I'm not good in writing erotic stuff, and I'm dying of total embarrassment writing this chapter. , but I wanna be done and get over with this one. Hope you enjoy this though. R&R please..._


	27. Chapter 26: Loss

**Chapter 26**

**Loss**

The blinding light stung Kurapika's eyes when she opened them. Everything was all white at first, but after few second, everything came into focus and she realized that she was not in a familiar room; the air reeked of antiseptic.

She finally realized where she was. She pulled up the blanket covering her feet up to her chest level and peeked under it. She was wearing a hospital gown. Her lower abdomen stung a little but it would havehurt like hell if the doctor hadn'tput a pain-killer on her dextrose half an hour ago while she had beenout-cold.

Kurapika tried to remember what happened and the possible reason why she was there.

Abruptly, her hands started to fumble on her belly and then she knew. She tried hard not to cry, but failed.

Leorio Paladiknight was carrying a basket of fruits that he bought from a nearby department store when he entered St. Luke's hospital. More than an hour ago, the doctor, who had mistaken him as Kurapika's husband (but Leorio claimed that he was just a friend), told him the bad news. Leorio had been pondering any possible ways to comfort and cheer up his friend once she learned about the painful truth. He knew it would be agonizing for her. Until now, he still hadn't been able to come up with something and he cursed himself silently for that.

He heaved a deep sigh before opening the door to Kurapika's ward. The doctor and a nurse were already there and Leorio assumed that his friend had already found out,based on Kurapika's pinkish nose and glassy eyes that had swollen probably from crying.

The doctor, the nurse and Kurapika glanced at Leorio for a bit beforethe doctor continued, "Again, I'm really sorry for your loss. I suggest you take a rest and trynot to be too hard on yourself."

Kurapika nodded and sniffed as she sat on her bed, trying not to look up at the doctor and the nurse directly so that they wouldn'tnotice the scarlet hue flickering on her eyeballs.

"Please make her as comfortable as possible," the doctor told Leorio, and then he and the nurse left the room.

The brunette put the basket of fruits on the bed-table by Kurapika's bed. Leorio could see that Kurapika was trying to be strong. She had always been like that since the first timehe met her. He knew she was trying hard not to cry again. He had never seen her cry though. Almost maybe, but not exactly. He didn't think he would want to anyway.

Leorio knew he needed to say something immediately, but he had to be careful on what he was going to say; especially that Kurapika was in a vulnerable condition right now and was probably very emotionally sensitive. She might try not to show it but Leorio decided to be more considerate nonetheless. That was just how Leorio was. Like Senritsu said, he had a good heart.

Leorio thought it was not a good idea asking her how she was feeling because obviously she was not okay.

So he asked, "Are you hungry? I bought some fruits."

Leorio grabbed a ripe mango from the basket, "I bought your favourite," he raised his hand holding the fruit so Kurapika could see it clearly. "They're really sweet, just like you want them."

Kurapika forced a smile and nodded.

Leorio cut the mango silently in both sides, removing the cheeks from the seeds. He put them on a small platter and offered it to Kurapika with a spoon.

"Or I can feed you if you like."Leorio offered half-jokingly.

"No, it's okay." Kurapika replied as she took the platter and started eating the mango quietly.

Leorio watched silently and sadly.

Kurapika finished her mango and gave the saucer and the spoon back to Leorio.

"Do you want some more?" He offered.

"No, I just want some water please."

Leorio poured her a glass of purified water and passed it to her. The blonde hunter drank it all up.

"Thank you." She said gratefully.

"No problem."

Kurapika slid under the blanket, lay down facing away from Leorio.

"You know…." Leorio said, "Uh…do you want to be alone for a while?"

Kurapika turned on her bed to face her friend, "No. It's okay."

"Okay."

"I'm really sorry that I've distracted you so much from your medical study. If you need to go then…"

"No," Leorio said reassuringly. "It's really okay. You're more important right now. Don't worry about my studies. I can catch up with it later."

Kurapika smiled, "You're such a really good friend, Leorio. Thank you very much."

"No problem," Leorio smiled a gentle smile.

There was a long silence.

_Kurapika had been living with him in his apartment for three months now. Leorio could still remember the day she suddenly appeared on his front door. She was smiling back then when he opened the door after her constant punching of the door bell and he had thought that she was some persistent salesman or real estate agent. He did not expect it would be her. Nonetheless he was happy to see his friend again after more than a year._

_It was unlikely for Kurapika to greet him with a hug, so he was quite surprised when she did it that day. He thought jokingly to himself that she must have had missed him that much, until later when he noticed the pain in her eyes despite the smile on her face or was he just imagining it?_

_Leorio noticed that Kurapika seemed to have changed. He was not sure what kind of change it was, but she did._

_And then suddenly that night, she asked him if she could stay in his apartment for a while. It gave Leorio some weird ideas and he was expecting that Kurapika would be aware of it, but she didn't seem to care anymore. He asked her how long she would stay and she replied that she might have to stay for a year._

_"Taking a vacation from a hunting job for a while?" Leorio asked._

_"Yes. Apparently. I need a break?" Kurapika replied. Leorio noticed that Kurapika would sometimes sound like she was tired or sleepy all the time. Unlike when Leorio was with her before-during the exam and in York Shin, she would always sound rigid and serious and smart. But Kurapika who was with him that time in his apartment and for the past few months of her stay with him, she sounded like, he didn't know, soft? Very lady-like maybe if that was how Leorio could put it._

_Leorio never dared to ask Kurapika about her real gender but he knew that the blonde hunter was probably a lady disguised as a boy and he knew she had her reasons to hide her real gender, and as good friend Leorio just played along with it and referred her as a "he"-which was probably what Kurapika would want anyway._

_The thing was, in the past few months she was living with him, she had become more obviously feminine and it was finally confirmed when after more than a month of her stay, Leorio caught her throwing up in the sink. At first he thought it was just a food poisoning until the other symptoms showed up-one time she almost collapsed, and when Leorio asked her what was wrong with her, she replied she was just dizzy. At first Leorio told himself that it could not possibly be what he thought it was, but he was a medical student. He knew what morning sickness and dizziness could possibly mean. Not to mention that he began to notice that Kurapika had been picky with food too and had been eating a lot recently, and sometimes he would suffer a little from her tantrums when she demanded him to buy some certain fruits for her and would not stop bugging him until he bought her what she wanted and refuses to go outside herself. Leorio didn't dare to ask what had gotten into her to the point that she was acting different, because he might not be ready to accept the answer._

_Kurapika had gained a little weight, too. Not to mention the mood swings. Finally, when Leorio saw Kurapika in maternal dress with an obvious swell on her tummy on her third month of stay…._

"_You're pregnant…" Leorio finally dared to ask, "aren't you?"_

_Kurapika looked like she was going to cry, then she said, "I'm sorry." with a trembling voice that made Leorio panic inside. Was she going to cry?_

_Leorio was not that surprised though, since he had seen the symptoms for a couple of months already. He was not angry that Kurapika didn't tell him about it immediately. He wouldn't dare to do it to a pregnant woman anyway._

_He asked Kurapika if she could explain what had happened—why she suddenly ended up like that but…_

"_Please, I don't want to talk about it right now." Kurapika begged him in a way that made Leorio see her like a vulnerable woman that would break anytime. So he never asked her again ever since then, but it left him wondering who the bloody father was until now. Was Kurapika raped? Leorio prayed to God that she wasn't because God knows if she was, Leorio swore he'd search the whole world just to make whoever did that to her pay._

_The thing was, that didn't seem to be the case. Or rather, for Leorio, it was really hard to tell. Because sometimes he would secretly caught Kurapika caressing her tummy and she was smiling and she looked satisfied. She seemed to be talking to her baby too. Maybe, Leorio thought, whoever the father was, she must have had loved him. And Kurapika wanted to have that baby. Whoever the father was, he was one hell of a lucky bastard. But where on earth was he now?_

There were so many questions Leorio wanted to ask Kurapika back then, but he decided that he would just wait for her to tell him everything when she was ready. He wouldn't dare to pressure her. It would not be good for bothKurapika and her baby.

But the unfortunate happened.

_One afternoon while Leorio was studying in his room, he heard a shriek. He rushed downstairs into the kitchen and found Kurapika sitting awkwardly on the floor with her back leaning against the kitchen island. There was a pool of blood under her. Leorio had never seen Kurapika looking so terrified and helpless like that before._

_Unfortunately, the doctor failed to save the child._

"You know…" Leorio finally dared to say, "..if…If you like. I can contact the father of your child for you."

Kurapika stared at him with a frown while she lay down on her hospital bed.

"Er…sorry," Leorio said guiltily, casting his eyes down to avoid meeting Kurapika's. He felt stupid. Maybe Kurapika didn't want to see the father of her child. Why else would she come to Leorio's place and stay there anyway? Maybe she was hiding from him…or something.

"You can't."

"I didn't mean to-wait what?"

"You can't contact him." Kurapika said. "He's already dead."

"Oh," Leorio said. "I'm...really sorry to know...that."

The father of Kurapika's child was already dead, Leorio repeated in his mind.

Kurapika, based on Leorio's usual impression, didn't seem to be the type who would engage easily on-Leorio swallowed on the thought-sex. At least that was what he thought of her during the time they had spent together in Hunter's Exam and hunting the Genei Ryodan in York Shin. She was so conservative, fierce and...and...she was quite unlikely to...

Leorio's mind trailed off.

The father of Kurapika's child was already dead, Leorio repeated again in his mind, and he wondered how he died.

Leorio started to imagine Kurapika making love to a stranger. Then after they were done, she'd killed him.

He began to wonder again if Kurapika was raped and probably Kurapika killed her rapist...or did Kurapika intend to get pregnant, using a guy to conceive a child and then she got rid of him when he was no longer useful to her...just like...a black widow spider. It sounded like a bad joke and if Kurapika could read Leorio's mind, she probably would have killed him by now.

To get rid of such ridiculous thought, Leorio suddenly slapped himself, which utterly shocked Kurapika that it made her sit up on her hospital bed and stared at Leorio with wide eyes.

"Are you alright?" She inquired Leorio, whose hands were pressed against his face and looking bewildered himself.

"What? Ah, yes." He stood up suddenly and turned but he accidentally tripped on the foot of his seat and fell.

Kurapika frowned and watched the medical student clumsily pulled himself back on his feet.

"Bathroom." Leorio said as he pointed one finger up with a panicked expression. "Be right back." And he left Kurapika's ward.

Kurapika was not that dumb. The fact that Leorio brought up about the father of her child was a hint that he wanted to know about him and wanted to talk about what happened to her.

Maybe Leorio had the right to know all about it. Besides, he was a good friend; she trusted him and he had taken her in and selflessly took care of her while she stayed in his apartment for months until now.

"Maybe I should finally tell him everything," Kurapika decided.

…to be continued.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**  
Thanks to Runandra a.k.a Funchan for the proof-read I was too lazy proof-reading it myself and actually, not that confident with my own grammar skills. Please read and review and I hope you enjoy reading it.


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